February 19, 2008	Tuesday	Safar 11, 1429

QUETTA, Feb 18: Polling for 14 seats of the National Assembly and 51 of the provincial assembly was held on Monday amid tight security.

The provincial government had deployed around 30,000 personnel of police, Frontier Corps, Balochistan Constabulary and Anti-Terrorist Force at polling stations to maintain law and order.

Alhough a number of incidents of bomb blasts and hand-grenade attacks were reported from some parts of the province, overall the polling was peaceful.

Governor Justice Amanullah Khan Yasinzai cast his vote at Dial Bagh polling station and caretaker Chief Minister Sardar Saleh Mohammad Bhootani visited polling stations in Panjgur and Gwadar.

Incidents of violence on Sunday and Monday and the APDM boycott affected the turnout across the province.

However, relative high turnout was reported from the Hazara Town area of Brewery Road, Mariabad, Saeedabad, Nechari Alamdar road and Talgodam where 25 per cent votes had been cast in the first few hours.

A low turnout was also reported at a polling station for women in Pashtoonabad where only 50 votes were cast by 2pm. The situation was the same at a polling station for men in the area, considered to be a stronghold of the Pashtoonkhawa Milli Awami Party and JUI-F.

In the Kuchlak area in the outskirts of Quetta, the turnout was quite high and long queues of voters were seen at polling stations.

Reports reaching here from Nasirabad, Jaffarabad, Khuzdar and Lasbela said that a large numbers of voters had cast votes.

However, in the coastal towns of Gwadar, Pasni, Turbat and Panjgur, the turnout was low mainly because of the boycott of the National Party and the Balochistan National Party-Mengal group which have a strong support in the area.