People least interested in cantt board elections

Rawalpindi : The local government elections concluded peacefully here in Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) and Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) with an overall turnout of 30 to 40 per cent. The voting process began at 8:00 am and continued without any break till 5:00 pm here on Sunday.

Some minor complaints were reported in Ward No.7, Ward No.1 and Ward No.8 where law enforcement agencies resolved the issues within minutes. Hot weather was the major reason for the low turnout of voters in several polling stations. The voter turnout was better in the morning time from 8:00 am to 11:00 am. Both men and women cast their votes.

Most of the people told ‘The News’ that there was no use in casting votes as it would prove to be a futile exercise.

Commissioner Rawalpindi Division Syed Gulzar Hussain Shah, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Muhammad Ali, and City Police Officer (CPO) Ahsan Younas visited different polling stations to check the law and order situation.

The contesting candidates provided all facilities like pick and drop, breakfast and lunch to their voters and supporters. The voters and supporters enjoyed delicious dishes of ‘Halwa Poori’ ‘Channy Naan’ and ‘Lassi’ in breakfast while ‘chicken karahi and ‘pulao’ in lunch.

There was a complete ban on the display of weapons and use of loudspeakers during elections.

Around 4,000 police officials and Rangers personnel performed their duties for the peaceful conduct of the elections.

Some voters were of the view that the time limit for polling was very short and it should have been till 7 pm instead of 5 pm.

Traffic in the garrison city remained quite sparse throughout the day. Very few private transport vehicles were seen on roads, as hundreds of them had already been engaged by the local administration for polls’ duty. The overall law and order situation remained peaceful, except for some verbal clashes at few places.

The youths were seen playing cricket and football in different playgrounds and the majority of them were not willing to cast their votes. “It is good to play games, people go to polling stations in those countries where democracy is respected and valued and where a change is expected. In Pakistan, we are not even sure whether the elected representatives will be valued and given a free hand to resolve public related issues,” people said.

Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) and Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) have 10 seats each, however, the election was held on 19 seats as polling has been postponed in one constituency after the death of a candidate.

In the two cantonments, a total of 187 candidates of different political parties were in the race, 110 were contesting on nine seats of RCB and 77 candidates on 10 seats of the CCB. There was a tough contest between Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, and Pakistan People’s Party.

Total 34 polling stations were declared highly sensitive while 77 polling stations were declared sensitive. All of the polling stations that have been declared sensitive were controlled by the Rangers.

All political parties had been allowed to set up camps outside polling stations to facilitate the candidates.