PESHAWAR, Aug 18: Women in more than a dozen union councils of Peshawar district could not cast vote in the first round of local body elections on Thursday due to local customs and unwritten agreements among various contesting candidates.

The overall turnout of women was low in most areas. Women voters did not show up at polling stations in Deh Bahadur (Town-III), Bazid Khel, Sarband, Achini Bala, Urmur Payan, Musa Zai, Sheikh Muhammadi, Badabare Maryamzai, Surizai Bala, Badabare Harizai, Mathani, Maryamzai, Mashoogagar, Suleman Khel, Sheikhan, Khazana, Larama union councils of Peshawar district.

A visit to these union councils revealed that women were stopped from exercising their right to vote under by local elders and also by candidates.

This was contrary to the chief election commissioner’s assertion that elections would be declared void in areas where women were barred from the poll.

The district returning officer in Peshawar, Shahjehan Akhunzada, told Dawn that while the Election Commission had made all arrangements to facilitate women voters, it could not take them out of homes to vote.

As a result, no voting took place at women’s polling stations in many union councils.

“We have been waiting for female voters to turn up here since morning and have yet to open the concerned bags carrying ballot papers,” said a presiding officer at a polling station for women in Bazid Khel.

Polling for women took place in the interior Peshawar City but women’s participation in polling stations set up in rural areas or semi-urban areas was quite low.

The polling staff in some of these women polling stations left after the lunch break as no woman voter turned up to vote.

Mohammad Iqbal Afridi, a candidate for the post of nazim in Achini Bala UC, did not express dismay at the barring of women from the poll. In fact, he said, women should not go to polling stations that were crowded with males. He pointed out that in his union council women had never cast their ballots in years.

No women polling was held in Gul Bela union council after elders in the area agreed not to allow any woman to participate in the election. In Khazana 76 UC, not a single woman turned up at the polling station till four O’clock in the evening.

Similarly, women polling was low in the two union councils of Hazarkhawani. However, only four women polled their vote as they belonged to the family of one of the candidate.

Women polling in the Nothia Jadeed UC at Bara road was stopped at 1:00 pm after women dressed in the traditional ‘burqa’ were found involved in bogus voting.

A similar incident took place in Tehkal 25 UC, when police closed down the polling station after allegations that bogus polling was taking place.

In Qaidabad UC in Kakshal area, polling remained suspended for four hours due to scuffles between supporters of rival candidates. In Nahaqai polling station, polling started late due to lack of female staff and no stationery. In Kanj 19 UC, polling remained suspended due to faulty ballot papers.

In Bhanamari UC, women voting took place even though there were reports that women would be barred from the poll.

In Meera Kachoori UC 92, female voters had difficulty in casting their ballots because only one polling station was operating instead of four.

A rush of women voters was seen on the polling station at Meera Kachoori but no voters’ lists were available. Lack of security also created problems for women voters.

Women polling remained suspended at the Karimpura polling station due to clashes.