October 11, 2002	Friday	Sha'aban 4, 1423

KARACHI, Oct 10: The city witnessed peaceful elections on Thursday as no untoward incident was reported from any part of the metropolis.

A dozen political parties were in the field. The major players were the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, the Pakistan Peoples Party, the PML-N and the PML-Q.

The sizzling heat contributed to the low turnout of voters— below 30 percent in most places.

The hustle and bustle witnessed at the election camps of the Muttahida Majlis-i- Amal indicated that religious parties might succeed in regaining, to some extent, their lost ground in the city.

However, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, despite losing some ground here and there, still seems poised to make its mark.

It surprised many that in some parts of Lines Area the election camps of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Mohajir Qaumi Movement were set up facing each other and were equally crowded. Their political agents in different polling stations were seen sitting side by side, chatting in a free atmosphere.

But at some polling stations their agents were conspicuously absent, while the agents of the PML-N, the PML-Q, the Sunni Tehreek and the National Alliance were present.

Against the 20 seats of the national assembly in the city, there were 269 candidates in the run, while the 42 provincial assembly seats were contested by 623 aspirants.

The condition of presentation of NIC cards in the original was strictly adhered to. For want of security personnel, the administration had acquired the services of private security agencies.

Most of the presiding and polling officers were found complaining of the attitude of the authorities who, on Wednesday, made them wait from 8 am to 11 pm for handing over of the election material and ballot boxes which they had to carry to the polling stations.

At some polling stations indelible ink was in short supply and in other places rulers were not provided to the poling officers.

At many polling stations presiding officers complained of lack of ink. In one case a citizen was requested to provide it as the shops were closed.

Discrepancies in the voters’ lists supplied to agents and # polling officers were also reported from many polling stations, including the one set up at Awami Church in Esa Nagri.

In some towns people complained of the failure of the activists manning the election camps to guide the voters to the proper polling stations, as a result of which many voters were not able to cast their votes.

Shortage of trained workers to be appointed as agents at polling stations appeared to be a major fault on the part of political parties.

The roads wore a deserted look as if it were a strike day, without public and private transport. Some drivers said they had withdrawn their vehicles for fear of police who acquired them for use on all such occasions without making any payment, while the others had withdrawn their vehicles following the reports that political activists had taken away documents of vehicles to use them for transporting their supporters from their houses to election camps.

In the areas around Jacoblines and Khudadad Colony, voters were seen thronging to the election camps of the Sunni Tehreek, the Labour Party and the National Alliance, whereas the camps of the PML-Q and the PML-N wore an empty look.

In most constituencies, the camps that were crowded either belonged to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement or the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal. According to observers, the MMA’s anti-US stand has gone well with the sentiments of electorates.