‘36 percent turnout recorded in Karachi’s local govt polls’

Data released by ECP shows most voters came out in District Malir,
while lowest number was recorded in District East  

Karachi

A 36 percent overall turnout was recorded during the local government elections in Karachi, as just 25,17,265 of the city's 69,72,454 registered voters cast their ballot on December 5 last year.

The highest turnout in the metropolis was observed in District Malir where 49 percent of the registered voters exercised their right.

According to a summary of the local government elections released by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the total number of registered voters in District Malir was 547,207 and out of them 266,601 cast their votes.

District Malir had been carved out during the tenure of late Benazir Bhutto in the 1990s but was abolished in 2000 and divided into Malir, Bin Qasim and Gadap Towns. In 2011, the Sindh government led by the Pakistan People’s Party revived the district in its former state.

According to official statistics, the total population of the area is around 1.8 million out of which 641,000 are eligible voters.

The local government set up of Malir comprises one district council — consisting 32 union councils — and one district municipal corporation — consisting 13 union committees. The district council represents rural areas while the municipal corporation represents urban areas of the district.

The area where the second highest voters’ turnout was observed was in District West, where 42 percent of the total registered voters cast their votes on December 5.

According to the ECP, out of 1,512,281 registered voters, around 628,927 people exercised their right to vote.

A small portion of District West is rural, comprising six union councils that are part of District Council Karachi. The rest of the area comprises 46 union committees that make by its district municipal corporation. The third highest turnout was in District Korangi where 37 percent voters came to polling stations on December 5.

There are a total of 1,183,049 registered voters in the district and about 434,187 people cast their votes.

District Central was fourth in line with 34 percent turnout.

The total number of registered voters was 1,737, 333 and the votes polled on December 5 were 596,163.

District Central in the biggest of all districts in Karachi in terms of population and comprises 51 union committees.

In District South, 30 percent people cast their votes. It has a total of 805,683 registered voters, out of whom 244,274 exercised their right to elect the local government representatives.

The turnout in District East was the lowest with only 29 percent people voting. There were 1,186,901 registered voters out of which 347,113 cast their votes on December 5.

Credit: Faraz Maqbool