0
LAHORE, Oct 10: A record low voters’ turnout was the hallmark of polling for the provincial capital’s 13 national and 25 Punjab Assembly seats here on Thursday.
Except for a few minor, isolated clashes between the activists of different parties, no major incident of violence was reported. Peaceful polling was attributed to the unprecedented low turnout of voters both by the polling staff and agents.
At many places, first vote was cast as late in the day as 12noon. In other places, first voter visited the polling station after 9am. Most candidates, excluding those of the three major parties —- the PPP, the PML-N and the PML-QA —- and the MMA had difficulties in finding enough polling agents to man all polling stations.
The polling camps established by the candidates outside the polling stations to facilitate their voters gave a rather deserted look. Except for a few places in the rural areas of the city, the people manning these camps sat idle gossiping with one another to while away time.
Voters from different constituencies also complained about the faulty electoral rolls and difficulties faced by them in locating their polling stations because of the last-minute re-location of many of them. Polling staff at various places complained of a shortage of the polling material, especially the envelopes supplied to them in order to seal the results of individual candidates.
Many people were seen stranded outside polling stations trying to locate their names in the voters lists.
Haji Nazir Hussain and Haji Ashraf, two aged voters of Bhati Gate, were seen locating their names in the list outside the Victoria Girls High School polling station.
“We have been looking for our names since morning but failed to find them in spite of having exhausted ourselves in the process,” they told Dawn.
The biggest problem faced by workers of political parties sitting in the election camps outside polling stations was the confusion caused by the faulty rolls. They said several of their voters had returned home without polling their votes because they could not find their names in the electoral lists.
Voters also faced problems because of shifting of the traditional voting sites.
“The government has established polling stations at new sites and confused voters,” said a voter at Manga Mandi.
To compound the problem, the new lists have been prepared according to the area codes rather than the ward system. People are used to voting in their wards, now they not only have to locate new polling stations but also their voting code. This has led to frustration among voters and prevented many of them from polling their votes,” he said.
The presiding officers of two polling stations at Gulshan-i-Ravi and at Said Mitha Bazaar’s City Muslim High School said they had been supplied with the less number of printed envelops for sealing the results of the candidate than the number of contestants from the area.
Others complained of paucity of carbon papers, gums, ballpoints and other accessories. But they claimed to have managed the thing on their own without any interruption in polling.
Non-Muslims, who have been allowed to vote for general seats for the first time in over two decades, turned to exercise their right in larger numbers. At some places, non-Muslim voters were conspicuous by their enthusiastic and noisy participation. An unusual rush was seen at Youhanabad and Walton Road polling stations where minority voters are concentrated.
The Sessions Courts and the Aiwan-i-Adal were cordoned off by heavy contingents of police after the lapse of polling hours at 5pm. Police were deployed to receive ballot boxes to be brought there by the presiding officers to the offices of the returning officers concerned.
NA-118 (Shahdara): No enthusiasm was witnessed amongst voters in the prime ministerial hopeful and PML-QA president Mian Muhammad Azhar’s constituency during polling.
Voters were not certain about Mian Azhar’s win despite allegations of pre-poll rigging by the government to ensure the PML-QA victory.
The turnout at most polling stations in the constituency remained low despite the efforts of nine candidates contesting for the national seat and another 24 candidates for two provincial seats from the area. The turnout at most of the polling stations ranged between five per cent and 35 per cent. Turnout for men was comparatively higher than those meant for women.
The candidates had set up polling camps right outside the polling stations in clear violation of the Election Commission of Pakistan instructions that these should be at a distance of 200 yards. The polling agents of the candidates sat in the rooms in which polling booths had been set up.
Some people were seen looking for the polling stations where they were required to cast their votes due to defective polling scheme. They said they had visited other polling stations but had failed to find their votes registered there. Their votes had not been registered in the polling stations near their homes as used to be the case in the past.
Voters were not present outside any polling station when the polling started at 8am despite the fact that the candidates had arranged transport for providing them pick and drop facility for voting in view of complete absence of public transport due to either impounding of vehicles by the government or hired by the candidates themselves. Fleets of wagons, rickshaws and minibuses were seen parked outside the election office of every candidate in the morning.
NA-119 (Walled City): The voters turnout in the constituency was extremely low even at the highly sensitive polling stations like the Dyal Singh College, the Islamia College Railway Road, the City Muslim High School at Said Mitha Bazaar and the Victoria Girls High School, Mori Gate. These places used to be the centre of attraction in the past elections, having repeated suspension of polling because of objections by the rival candidates or their supporters. Unlike past, there were fewer voters at Heera Mandi’s Ali Park polling station.
The presiding officer at the Dyal Singh College’s women polling station, Farhat Mehmood, told Dawn that out of a total 1,363 votes only 85 had been cast by 12:15pm.
Yasmin, the polling agent of PML-QA candidate for PP-142, Khwaja Raheel Rashid, said there were fewer voters because of the attitude of politicians. The polling agents of PML-N’s Khwaja Saad Rafiq and the PPP’s Jahangir Badar had no complaint about polling.
About 100 votes had been cast at the Islamia College Railway Road’s men polling station by 12:30pm. The polling started at 8am but the first voter entered the polling station at 9:30am.
Polling agents of the PPP and the PML-N candidates did not make any complaint and they were satisfied with the attitude of police.
Nasreen Imtiaz, the presiding officer of the women polling station at the same college, said out of 1,000 votes only 30 had been cast by 12;25pm. She said: “Polling was slow but peaceful due to lack of public interest”.
At the Government City Muslim High School’s women polling station, only 83 votes had been cast out of 970 by 4pm. There was no traditional enthusiasm among people of the area also covering the nearby Heera Mandi.
NA-120 (Mozang): The women’s polling station at the Livestock Complex, Cooper Road, where the governor’s wife cast her vote, wore an almost deserted look at around 11:30am.
According to the presiding officer, Salma Abbas, out of 1,120 votes only 143 had been cast by then.
PML-N candidate Pervez Malik’s polling agent Rukhsana did not have any complaint about the polling staff, police or the electoral rolls. She also said nobody was influencing the polling process, adding it could happen had there been a higher voters turnout.
At Muslim High School (No:II) women polling station, the turnout was too low. According to presiding officer Shahida Rehman, out of 837 votes only 100 had been cast by 1:20pm.
Though polling began at 8am, the first voter entered there after 9am. She also complained of ambiguity in the voters’ list.
Afshan, the polling agent of PML-N candidate Malik Pervez, said there was no disturbance or rigging. She said she was at peace with the polling agents of other candidates who were cooperating with her.
Shehla, the polling agent of PPP candidate Altaf Ahmad Qureshi, too seemed satisfied with polling. She said nobody had tried to poll bogus votes because of the general disinterest among people.
Presiding officer of the men’s polling station at the same school Khalil Ahmad said there were 1,126 votes but only 160 had been cast by 1:30pm. The polling agents of the PPP and the PML-N candidates did not complain of any rigging or coercion by police or any other authority.
The turnout at the Ganga Ram polling station too was very low. It did not improve even during the closing hour. People enlisted for this polling station previously used to poll their votes at Adabistan-i-Soofia and the change in the polling station caused them a lot of inconvenience. Many could not locate the new polling station and returned home without casting their votes.
Only 109 out of a total 1,134 votes had been cast at the polling station at the Government Central Model High School, Lower Mall, by 3:30pm. The polling station had three polling booths.
“The turnout has increased in the last two hours as we sat idle in early hours of polling,” a polling officer said.
In an adjacent polling station No 128/60, only 280 votes out of 1,100 had been polled. It had two polling booths.
“We are finding it extremely difficult to take out voters out of their homes,” a polling agent said.
NA-121 (Gulshan-i-Ravi): The voters turnout at Alnimra Model High School’s men and women polling stations remained very low even in the late afternoon.
Women polling station’s presiding officer Shahida Parveen said out of 1,129 votes only 93 had been polled by 3pm. Polling began at 8am but the first voter entered the place at 10am, she said. Men’s polling station presiding officer Abdul Haq said out of a total 1,053 votes only 212 had been cast by 2:50pm.
Both Parveen and Haq complained that the number of the printed envelopes for sealing the results of candidates was less than the number of the contestants.
“We have informed our returning officer about the shortage but there has been no response. We will now seal the results in plain envelopes,” they said.
NA-122 (Ichhra): Polling was too slow in the constituency, the longest among the city’s 13 NA seats, as not a single vote had been cast at the Ganga Ram polling station even at 12:30pm.
Two independent candidates for PP-148, former UC 126 Nazim Mian Aslam Iqbal and Arif Gujjar clashed over allegations of bogus voting.
Besides other parties, the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf failed to appoint polling agents at each and every polling booth though its chairman Imran Khan was in the run from the constituency, while its polling camps were also missing outside various polling stations.
The PTI media cell officials admitted that they could deploy polling agents only at 80 per cent booths. They alleged that military men had seized their many mini-trucks carrying tents and furniture meant for setting up polling camps.
NA-123 (North Lahore): Turnout of voters at the two polling stations set up at Government Muslim High School, Baghbanpura, remained very low as only 134 votes were cast at both the polling stations by women till 1.45pm.
At the three polling booths set up at the polling station of M. C. High School, G. T. Road, only 63 votes were cast till 1.30pm. At another polling station set up at Government Muslim High School, Baghbanpura, only 58 people turned up to cast vote.
NA-124 (Mughalpura): The turnout in this constituency also remained quite low. Till 12.15pm, only 42 votes were cast at the polling station for men at Government Model Girls High School, Mughalpura, while at the women polling stations, only 18 and 51 electors cast votes by 12.30.
The polling staff complained to Dawn that the place was quite congested and they found it difficult to facilitate over 700 electors.
At the men’s polling station at Golden Gate School, Maskeenpura, only 120 out of the 1,189 registered electorate voted, while at the three polling booths at the women’s polling station, only 83 votes were cast till 12.45pm.
At the polling station No. 31 set up at Al-Saud Public School, Shadipura, 342 voters out of the 1,390 registered voters cast vote, while at the women’s polling station, only 194 votes were cast out of the 1,782 registered voters till 2.45pm.
NA-125 (Cantonment): The voters turnout in the middle and lower income localities like Sadar was slightly better than the richer areas of the constituency. However, nowhere in the constituency the voters had to queue up to cast their votes. The PML-QA candidates from the area — Humayun Akhtar and Haroon Akhtar — had arranged a large fleets of vans, minibuses, etc to transport voters to the polling stations.
By 9am, around 300 votes out of almost 2,000 were polled at Bengali Mohallah and the Government Girls High School, Sadar. Most of votes were polled by women. Similarly, the polling station at the Government Boys High School on Walton Road, about 10 per cent votes were cast by 9:30am. However, polling stations in the localities like the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and Sarwar Road wore a deserted look for most part of the day as first voter in these areas turned up quite late in the morning.
NA-126 (Gulberg): Eight polling stations, four each for men and women, had been established in one hall at the Pakistan Institute of Audit and Accounts, Gurumanget, creating quite a mess there.
Some people belonging to the PPP and the PML-N gathered outside the building complained that the police guard on duty had pushed them out of the polling station but allowed the PML-QA voters in after the expiry of the time scheduled for polling.
A scuffle was reported from the polling station set up in Rang Mahal school for the deaf where Naib Nazim of UC-97 Abdul Samad was caught by the polling agent of Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor (PML-N nominee for PP-152) while attempting to cast double vote.
At most of the polling stations in the vicinity of slums, the turnout was between 30 and 45 per cent. However, most of the voters turned up in the second half of the day.
NA-127 (Township): At a number of polling stations located in the Townhip and Green Town area, no arrangement had been made to facilitate the voters to stamp their ballots in private.
When questioned, the presiding officer of the polling station No 167 said the authorities concerned had not provided them with material (cloth sheets, etc.) nor was there any spare room available for the purpose.
He, however, said the problem was not of much importance as voters could conceal the stamping of their ballots by turning their back on others present in the room.
Imtiaz Butt, assistant presiding officer of the polling station No 154, complained that some contestants were threatening the staff with dire consequences for not complying with their demands about voting pattern.
At some polling stations, people were seen arguing with the police guard for the latter was not allowing them to enter the station to replace the polling agents earlier appointed there.
The police were of the view that they would be allowed in only after the polling agent concerned would come out of the station. But it was not clear how the person concerned would be called out of the booth.
NA-128 (Raiwind): Most polling stations in the constituency wore a deserted look till as late as 2pm. At the Government Community Girls College, Raiwind, polling station, hardly 250 votes had been polled out of 1,496 by 2pm. However, the situation at polling stations at Sirai Tilab on the Raiwind-Manga Mandi Road was slightly better with 350 votes cast out of 863 by 2;30pm.
Polling at PS-177 and 179 Manga Mandi were also slightly ahead with almost 700 votes cast out of 2,535 votes by 3pm. Voters at Chuhng and Shamke Bhattian also largely remained aloof to polling festivities. Only 300 votes were cast at the Shamke Bhattian polling station out of 2,100 and 200 out of 1,400 at Chuhng.
NA-129 (Kahna): Polling in the constituency remained as dull as in the neighbouring NA-128 except for Youhanabad —- a Christian locality. The polling stations set up at a church in Youhanabad were centres of the activity while the polling staff in the rest of the stations of the constituency whiled away their time cracking jokes.
NA-130 (Wahga): This constituency, which mainly comprises rural areas, witnessed far better turnout of voters as compared to those in the urban localities.
The polling staff at different polling stations, however, remained worried about the attitude of the illiterate voters. They continued to instruct voters how to stamp the ballot papers.
A women polling officer at the polling station at Government Primary School, Rampur Jageer, Jallo, told Dawn that they had been compelled to tell voters that the white and green ballot papers should be inserted in the same colour ballot box. Some women voters inserted white ballot papers in the green ballot box and vice versa. She said that a woman voter had also taken away the voting stamp.
At this polling station, 253 people cast their votes out of 750 registered voters till 3.15pm. Similarly, at the men’s polling station (No. 133), some 422 votes were cast out of the 901 registered electorate.
At the polling stations set up at the Muqaddas Foundation High School, Barkat Town, some 254 and 132 votes were cast by 1.10pm.
The turnout at the polling station established at Government Girls High School, Dograi Kalan, near Jallo, also remained low as 443 voters cast votes out of total 1,300 voters till 3.30pm. At the women’s polling station (93/21), only 176 electors voted out of the 750 voters.
A polling officer said it was distressing that the voters’ turnout had remained very low. She said the opinion of those few people would determine the fate of the country.
Turnout at the polling stations of Government High School, Wahga, was relatively high as 773 and 450 voters out of the total 1,285 and 1,051 registered electorate, respectively, voted till 4.05pm.
By the end of the polling time at 5pm, the turnover of voters at the polling stations set up at Government Middle School, Burki, remained lest than 50 per cent.
