NA-246: The much-awaited electoral battle is over
By-poll was largely a three-way contest between MQM's Kanwar Naveed Jameel, PTI's Imran Ismail and JI's Rashid Naseem.
The involvement of MQM chief Altaf Hussain, PTI Chairman Imran Khan and JI chief Sirajul Haq had turned what was just a simple by-election for one seat into an electoral battlefield of national importance.
213 polling stations were set up with 769 polling booths housed in 55 buildings, for 357,861 registered voters. Around 2,556 policemen will provide security in the constituency, whereas Rangers personnel were also deployed at almost all polling stations.
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| A lady casts her vote in a polling station during by-election in the constituency of NA-246. Photo by M. Toheed |
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| A lady casts her vote in a polling station during by-election in the constituency of NA-246. Photo by M. Toheed |
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| Lady police official checks the NICs of lady voters outside a polling station. Photo by M. Toheed |
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| A person casts his vote in polling station during by-election. Photo by M. Toheed |
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| person casts his vote in polling station during by-election in the constituency of NA-246. Photo by M. Toheed |
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| A ranger official checking people at the entrance of polling station to cast their votes. Photo by M. Toheed |
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| Rangers personnel patrolling during by-election in the constituency of NA-246. Photo by M. Toheed |
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| Voters cast their ballots at a polling station during a by-election in Karachi. — AFP |
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| A woman fills in her ballot at a polling station during the by-election. — Reuters |
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| A man casts his vote at a polling station during the by-election. — Reuters |
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| A woman sits on ground next to a policeman and a paramilitary soldier, before she casts her vote at a polling station. — Reuters |
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| View inside a pooling station in NA-246. Photo by Zoya Anwer |
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| A man casts his vote at a polling station during the by-election. Photo by Zoya Anwer |
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| Rangers personnel were deployed to ensure security in the area. Photo by Zoya Anwer |
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| Polling agents at work outside a polling station in NA-246. Photo by Zoya Anwer |
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| Polling agent checks voter list. Photo by Zoya Anwer |
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| View of an MQM polling camp. Photo by Zoya Anwer |
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| An aged women shows the thumb with irremovable ink after casting her vote. Photo by Zoya Anwer |
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Comments (8) Closed
Apr 23, 2015 11:01pm
Altaf all the way. PTI could not win even with the support of establidhment because you need the support of the voters. PTT failed to understand that.
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Apr 25, 2015 12:39am
Jamhooriat Zindabad, Pakistan Zindabad, from a Canadian Pakistani.
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Apr 26, 2015 04:07pm
Fall has started from 138k to 93k...
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Apr 26, 2015 04:48pm
people spoke and the spoke the truth. Politics in Pakistan is regional and language based and and not on any thing else.. interior Sind belongs to PPP, Punjab belongs to NS and Chaudries, baluchistan belongs to Baluchies, Phaktoons khowa belongs Imran...Karachi belongs to MQM And Pakistan belongs to Oligarchs, elite and THE Feudal...we will never have peace cos we don't belong to each others..
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Apr 26, 2015 09:19pm
All the pictures are interesting, one point is common in these election pictures and previous photographs are, that election commission/authorities making arrangement on ad-hoc basis, "1st and the last time". It looks this election is 1st time in the life of that particular area. Why they don't make some prestigious hardware. Like, BOXES, STAMPING AREA, PARTITION ENCLAVE, ORGANIZED SEATING ARRANGEMENT FOR ELECTION STAFF AND SECURITY STAFF. It looks very ugly that male security staff is standing by very close to women, and loitering here and there, very undisciplined. These elections were in highly posh area in Karachi, Karachi is highly litrate city in Pakistan, but arrangements are like SOMALIA or HAITI.
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Apr 27, 2015 10:29am
@LAST COMMENT do you understand that it was a working day on the day of the by-election. Most people left for work without voting, and most women were left out without any transport to the polling station. This is said to be a very large voter turn out in a by-election.
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Apr 27, 2015 01:07pm
@last comment If thats the case then PTI also secured around 40K votes in 2013 elections and now only 24k.. so yes PTI's fall has started. Just accept the defeat and respect the peoples' mandate.
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Apr 27, 2015 03:05pm
At the end one can conclude that NA 246 needs more time to fully defy politics of coercion and threats.
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