Regional
LG Elections: Polling begins in Karachi, Hydrabad and other districts
The polling process started from 8am today and will continue till 5pm.
Karachi: In the second phase of local body elections in Sindh, the polling process has started in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions today (Sunday).
The polling process started from 8am today and will continue till 5pm.
It is pertinent to note that each voter will cast only 2 votes for 246 Union Committees in 7 districts of Karachi (Karachi Central, Karachi East, Karachi South, Karachi West, Korangi, Malir, Keamari). The polling process is taking place in 984 wards of 246 Union Councils (UCs) in 25 towns of Karachi.
The polling process for local body elections has also started today in 9 districts of Hyderabad division.
In Hyderabad, 2551 candidates, 1436 in Dadu, 839 in Jamshoro, 781 in Tando Allahyar, 715 in Matiari and 452 candidates in Tando Muhammad Khan are contesting on various seats.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has directed Sindh government to make fool-proof arrangements for peaceful conduct of the local government elections.
According to the ECP spokesperson, about 8,706 polling stations have been set up for the local body polls i.e. 1,204 for males and 1,170 for females, however, 389 are improvised polling stations.
Each union council (UC) has 4 wards, the voter has to elect the general councilor of the ward in addition to the chairman and vice chairman.
The chairman and vice chairman will have one vote, the second vote will be for the general councilor. Each union council will consist of 11 members, out of which 6 members will be directly elected.
9,058 candidates are in the fray for the seat of Chairman, Vice Chairman and General Member in Karachi Division.
7 candidates have been elected unopposed from various union committees on the panel of chairman, vice chairman and general member from Karachi.
Election Commissioner Sindh said that closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras have been installed at sensitive polling stations, 8 to 10 policemen will be deployed at highly sensitive polling stations.
Central District:
There are 45 UCs in 5 towns of central district, the total number of registered voters are 20,76,073. Out of 1263 polling stations in Central District, 360 are declared as highly sensitive and 903 as sensitive.
East District:
There are 43 UCs in 5 towns of East District, the number of registered voters are 14,54,059. Out of 799 polling stations, 200 are declared highly sensitive while 599 are declared sensitive.
Korangi District:
Korangi District has 37 UCs in 4 towns, the registered voters in the district are 14,15,091. Out of 765 polling stations in Korangi, 318 have been declared highly sensitive and 447 sensitive.
Western District:
There are 33 USCs in 3 towns, the number of registered voters are 9,09,187. 111 polling stations have been declared highly sensitive while 528 have been declared sensitive out of total 639.
Kemari District:
There are 32 UCs in 3 towns of Kemari district, the number of registered voters is 8,44,851. Out of 547 polling stations in Kemari, 164 were declared highly sensitive and 383 sensitive.
District Malir:
There are 30 UCs in 3 towns of Malir district, the number of registered voters is 7,43,205. Out of 497 polling stations in Malir, 119 have been declared highly sensitive while 378 have been declared sensitive.
South District:
There are 26 UCs in 2 towns of South District, the number of registered voters of South District is 9,95,054. Out of 480 polling stations, 224 have been declared highly sensitive while 256 have been declared sensitive.
Voting slowed down due to cold weather
The complaints of missing polling staff have been received from several polling stations in Karachi, while the number of voters is also less in the early morning due to the cold weather in the city.
District Kemari Maripur Town UC 3 Polling Station No. 17 delayed the polling process due to lack of staff, besides the presence of non-relevant persons is also reported in the polling station.
Voters said that despite the security, there is no staff at the polling stations and they could not cast their votes due to lack of staff.
UC 4 Gulshan Town
The polling agents in UC-4 Gulshan Town could not reach yet.
Muhammad Amjad, presiding officer of UC4 Gulshan Town, while talking to media, said that the staff has sealed the ballot boxes, everything had been prepared on time, yet not a single vote has been casted. He said that no polling agent of any party has showed up.
UC 5 Jail Road School
Jinnah Town UC 5 Jail Road School also has election materials but lacks staff.
East District UC 4 Ward 7
The polling process was also delayed in District East UC 4 Ward 7, where voters returned without casting their votes.
District Central New Karachi UC 5 Ward 2
The polling process was delayed in UC 5 Ward 2 of Central District New Karachi. Ballot boxes could not be delivered, polling agents did not reach here as well. Ballot boxes were not sealed in the UC-5 polling station.
Faqir Goth Kathor
Polling has not yet started in Malir Polling Station No. 11 Moro Faqir Goth Kathoor.
On the other hand, in Landhi No. 6, the representatives of political parties set up camps under the open sky.
According to the spokesperson of ECP, all arrangements for the municipal election have been completed. 1,32,83,696 people will exercise their right to vote today.
He also said that the Special Secretary and the Secretary of the Election Commission are monitoring the elections from the Sindh office of the Election Commission.