Karachi sees peaceful local govt elections marred by a sluggish start

Voting in the second phase of the local government elections in Karachi started at 8am and continued without any breaks in a peaceful manner until 5pm. But the polling process remained sluggish until 1pm.

Political parties had set up their camps outside every polling station to guide the voters. The polling stations were almost deserted in the morning because the number of voters was nominal due to severe cold.

Candidates of many parties continued to wait to receive their voters in the first half of the day. However, more voters showed up during the second half. In some areas, the election staff arrived late at many polling stations, which further delayed the voting process. With the passage of time, however, a gradual increase in the number of voters was seen in the urban areas.

Some voters complained about incomplete arrangements at their polling stations, saying that there was no drinking water, toilet or the required furniture. Some voters also had trouble finding their polling stations, while many complained they were assigned distant polling stations. Despite the cold and an overall low number of voters, polling stations in the Lyari, Liaquatabad, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Saddar, Mauripur and Baldia areas saw a higher turnout.

Most of the women in Lyari Town visited their polling stations to exercise their right to vote. The number of voters increased in the urban areas after midday.

Some groups of motorbike riders were seen in a number of areas shouting slogans for boycotting the elections. The identities of the people participating in the protest remained unclear.

Voting time

Many political parties complained that the voting process began late at some of the polling stations, so they demanded that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) extend the polling time.

A statement quoted Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja as saying that “voters present inside the polling stations at closing time are allowed to cast their votes”. But at scattered polling stations, the officials allowed the voting to continue for another two hours because of facing delays due to many reasons, including the polling agents not reaching on time and voting material not being available at some stations.

Officials’ visits

ECP Secretary Omar Hamid Khan visited different polling stations in the city, along with Sindh’s chief secretary, police chief and election commissioner. They reviewed the polling process and expressed satisfaction over the arrangements. They observed that adequate security measures were taken and law enforcers were performing their duties diligently. The secretary appealed to the voters to visit their polling stations to cast their votes.

ECP’s notices

Ejaz Anwar Chauhan, the provincial election commissioner, took notice of the Sindh government’s advertisements airing on different TV channels. According to the code of conduct, the advertisements mentioning various projects of the government was a violation.

“Today is polling day for the LG elections, so advertisements about government projects for Karachi is a clear violation of the code of conduct,” a statement quoted Chauhan as saying. He said that these advertisements should be stopped from airing immediately.

ECP Sindh Deputy Director Sajjad Khattak also took notice of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Firdous Shamim Naqvi allegedly breaking the seals of the ballot boxes at a polling station in UC-2, TMC Jinnah. The electoral body said in its notice that breaking the seals of ballot boxes is illegal and against the code of conduct. The commission ordered expelling Naqvi from the polling station.

Replies to allegations

In response to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s boycott of the LG elections, the ECP Sindh issued a statement to reject the allegations levelled by the party.

The commission clarified that under Section 10 of the LG Act, 2013, the government has the prerogative to determine the number of UCs in a district. The ECP said that according to the law, the Sindh government provided the number of UCs on December 31 to the commission, according to which delimitations were carried out. “The election commission has perfectly carried out the delimitation of UCs as per the law and merit,” reads the statement. The ECP rejected all the allegations, and also termed Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah’s statement as “incorrect and false”.