Amid low turnout, the by-elections for vacant local government seats in the Karachi division were held peacefully on Sunday. Polling took place in a total of five districts of Karachi — Malir, Keamari, East, South and Central — for vacant seats of chairman, vice chairman and general member.
As it is expected of by-elections, the turnout remained low. The turnout remained between 10 and 20 per cent in most of the union committees (UCs) and wards. However, the returning officers (ROs) of some UCs claimed that the turnout was 29 per cent.
The polling started at 8pm in the morning and continued till 5pm in the afternoon. Some political parties even brought their voters to polling stations in their vehicles. Polling agents of various political parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) were seen guiding voters on how to cast their vote.
Outside some polling stations, police officials were seen gossiping with each other. Officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) also visited various polling stations and expressed satisfaction at the polling process.
Provincial Election Commissioner Sindh Aijaz Anwar Chohan along with the Sindh inspector general of police also visited multiple polling stations. Talking to the media, Chohan stated that peaceful polling had taken place across Sindh with no reports of any disturbance from Karachi or other districts.
He conceded that the voter turnout was low but expressed the hope that more voters would come to the polling stations in the later hours of polling. Local leaders of the PTI accused the Pakistan Peoples Party of rigging in the by-polls in Gizri and other areas. In a statement, a leader of the PTI women wing alleged that a PTI candidate was also attacked and injured by PPP supporters.
Peaceful by-polls
Strict security measures were taken by law enforcement agencies to prevent any untoward incident during the by-elections, adds our correspondent.
Various police officers also visited the sensitive and highly sensitive polling stations within their districts as out of the total 121 polling stations, 42 had been declared highly sensitive, and 79 sensitive. The response forces were also on guard to tackle any emergency situation.
District City SSP Amjad Hayat visited various sensitive and highly sensitive polling stations. He stressed the importance of remaining vigilant to avoid any kind of disturbance at the polling stations.
He instructed the DSPs and SHOs to implement measures in light of the guidelines issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan. The SSP also met presiding officers and voters and took note of the issues at hand.
Central SSP Faisal Abdullah Chachar also visited the polling station in Razvia Society and reviewed the security arrangements. He stated that two polling stations were set up in District Central’s Rizvia Society, with a total of 450 police personnel deployed.
