FAISALABAD, May 1: The unofficial results of the referendum were announced in many districts of the Punjab on Wednesday.

The Assistant Returning Officer of Faisalabad, District and Sessions Judge Sher Zaheer Ahmad, said on Wednesday that the turnout in the six tehsils of the district was 55 per cent.

Government officials who supervised the polling were claiming till late on Tuesday night that the turnout was from 30 to 35 per cent.

The ARO said that 620,198 votes were cast in 1,159 polling stations of City Tehsil — 599,798 in favour of Gen Pervez Musharraf and 18,281 had stamp on ‘no’.

In 466 polling stations of Saddar Tehsil, ‘yes’ were 264,310 against 3,064 ‘no’ out of the total 270,619 votes cast; in Samundari Tehsil, 330 polling stations had been set up where 168,144 people exercised their right of franchise — 166,046 favoured and 1,803 opposed extension in Gen Musharraf’s term.

Out of the 238,561 votes cast at 354 polling stations, 234,764 people stamped yes while 3,237 marked no.

In Jaranwala Tehsil, 325,993 votes were cast at 611 polling stations — 319,740 people favoured and 4,907 opposed.

In Chak Jhumra Tehsil, 123,472 votes were cast — 122,056 yes and 871 no in the 147 polling stations.

Authorities had supplied 5,123,000 ballot papers for the 5,479,547 population of Faisalabad district.

The number of eligible voters in the district was 3,154,716. According to unofficial results 1,746,987 people cast their votes in the referendum.

Polling staff rejected 8,110 ballots in the district.

Independent sources claimed that at least 14 to 15 per cent votes were cast in the referendum in Faisalabad district. On the average, 150 people used their right of franchise at each polling station which means that 456,000 male and female voters cast their vote at 3,040 polling stations of the district.

TOBA TEK SINGH: The turnout in the referendum, according to unofficial results, remained 83.09 per cent.

There were 1,045 polling stations in the district.

Out of the 897,255 votes, 753,197 were cast — 743,757 for yes and 7,500 for no while 1,940 ballots were rejected.

In Kamalia Tehsil, out of the 284,709 votes cast, 220,692 were for yes and 2,287 for no while 450 ballots were rejected. The turnout remained 78 per cent. In Toba Tek Singh Tehsil, out of the 332,196 votes, 290,639 were cast — 286,540 for yes and 3,038 for no while 1,061 were rejected. The turnout was 87 per cent.

In Gojra Tehsil, out of the 280,450 votes, 242,912 were cast — 240,277 for yes and 2,210 for no while 425 votes were rejected. The turnout was 86 per cent.

BAHAWALPUR: The turnout remained 50.48 per cent in Bahawalpur district, according to unofficial results.

There are over 1.3 million registered voters in Bahawalpur district. The number of yes votes was 730,275 against the 125,680 no ballots.

Following is the tehsil-wise break-up.

HASILPUR: total votes 1,516, yes 115,017, no 1,516, rejected 327. Bahawalpur: total 376,189, yes 207,800, no 4,696, rejected 970. Yazman: total 222,644, yes 130,516, no 2,306, rejected 674. Khairpur Tamewali: total 96,564, yes 58,172, no 698 rejected 202. Ahmedpur East: total 375,824, yes 218,567, no 3,369, rejected 944.

The turnout in the Bahawalnagar district remained 85.59 per cent as yes votes were 865,202 against 9,905 no.

In Rahim Yar Khan district, the yes votes were 1,211,429 against 12,510 no.

SARGODHA: The unofficial results announced here on Wednesday said the turnout in the referendum remained 61 per cent in Sargodha, 98.38 per cent in Khushab, 98 per cent in Bhakkar and Mianwali districts.

The percentage of votes cast in tehsils of the Sargodha district was Sillanwali 67 per cent, Sahiwal 63 per cent, Shahpur 67 per cent, Bhalwal 68 per cent and Sargodha 50 per cent.

Out of the 134,398 votes, 83,401 were for yes and 15,727 no while 3,199 ballots were rejected.

SAHIWAL: Of the 970,657 registered voters, 756,930 were cast at 1,246 polling stations in Sahiwal.

According to unofficial results, 743,449 yes and 10,670 no votes were cast while 2,811 ballots were rejected.

Of the 4,999 postal ballots, 4,970 were in favour and 3 had stamp on no.

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