KARACHI, June 23: The residents of the constituency NA-255 went to the polls on Monday in a by-election during which an activist of the Muttahida Quami Movement was killed and enraged workers fired into the air.

In their post-polling press conferences, the Jamaat-i-Islami, which is a main party of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, and the Muttahida Quami Movement alleged that their workers had been harassed and beaten up.

Despite the fact that the authorities had beefed up security in the constituency, initially the turn-out remained low. Polling did not begin in some stations before 10am because of the absence of the polling staff.

Sindh chief secretary Dr Mutawakkil Kazi visited different polling stations and issued instructions to District Coordination Officer Mir Hussain Ali and other officials to make arrangements for power supply to polling stations.

He also directed DIG Operations Tariq Jamil to ensure that the polling staff returned home safe and sound.

Some women officials complained that no arrangements had been made to take them to polling stations.

Analysts point out that while 16 candidates were taking part in the by-election, the main contest was between Dr Farooq Sattar of the Muttahida Quami Movement and Mohammad Aslam Mujahid of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal.

It was the death of Mehmood Qureshi of the Mohajir Quami Movement which necessitated the by-election in the constituency.

According to political observers, the campaign of the Mohajir Quami Movement candidate, Syed Abid Ali Jafri, failed to take off because of a raft of factors.

The polling came to an end at 5pm. By midnight, Election Commission officials had counted the votes in 50 polling stations of the constituency, which had, in all, 194 polling stations.

Speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club, the deputy convener of the Muttahida coordination committee, Nasreen Jalil, demanded that those who had resorted to violence in the by-election in the constituency NA-255 should be arrested.

Flanked by MNA Kanwar Khalid Yunus and MPA Abdul Quddos, Ms Jalil alleged that when it had become clear that they would be defeated, the workers of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and Haqiqi had resorted to violence.

She added that an Muttahida worker, Anam Uzair, had been killed and another, Naeem, had been wounded in an attack.

Speaking at a press conference at Idara-i-Noor-i-Haq, Senator Ghafoor Ahmed, a central leader of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, alleged that the Muttahida had rigged the by- election of the constituency NA-255.

Sitting with MMA leaders Shaikh Rafique, Noor Mohammad Lakhani, Nasrullah Shaji and Yunus Barai, he said that the entire city had been made hostage by the MQM as the provincial government, police and the administration had been under its control.

He said that an attempt had been made on the life of their candidate, Aslam Mujahid, and many election camps of the MMA had been uprooted and set on fire.