ATTOCK: Women and young people turned out to vote in surprising numbers as the second phase of the local government elections was held in Attock district on Thursday.

By the end of polling, however, mixed trends were visible as the PML-N led the field with potential victories on nine seats. Unofficial results gave five seats to independent candidates, three to the Major Tahir Sadiq group and one seat to PTI.

In a break from tradition, young women turned out to vote early on Thursday, with several polling stations seeing a large number of women turning out before 7:30am. Local observers said that this was the first time that women had turned out to vote in rural areas. This was most apparent in the predominantly Pashtun tehsil of Hazro, where 495,075 of a total 1, 076,686 registered voters were women.

A polling officer from Hazro tehsil told Dawn that she had been part of the electoral process since 1990, but this was the first time she had seen such a large number of young women participating.

“Trends are changing and taboos are being broken due to influence of electronic and social media,” commented Hassanabdal-based journalist Naeem Mughal.

Nearly 38 candidates in Attock had already been elected unopposed, including two chairmen, a vice chairman and 35 general councillors.

In Hassanabdal, eight of the 12 councillor seats in urban areas were won by the Major Tahir Sadiq group, three by PML-N and one by an independent candidate from the Itehad-i-Sehar group.

In Fatehjang, the Major Tahir Sadiq group clinched four seats, PML-N took three and PTI won two seats. In Jand tehsil, five of the 11 seats were clinched by PTI, four by PML-N and two by the Major Tahir Sadiq group.

These polls were held in 71 Union Councils and six municipal committees of five different tehsils: the Attock district council and municipal committee Attock, Hazro municipal committee, Hassanabdal municipal committee, Fatehjang municipal committee, Pindi Gheb municipal committee and the Jand municipal committee.

Quratulain who is enrolled at a local university, told Dawn this was the first time she had cast a vote during any election. “It is a very rare experience for me,” she said as she displayed her ink-stained thumb.

She said that she had come to cast her vote along with her classmates, as it was a public holiday.

Zahura, another voter, told Dawn that by following the elections on TV and through social media, political awareness among the youth had increased and they were now actively participating in politics.

Shumila Perveen, who came to the Govt Girls High School Hazro to cast her vote, said this was the first time she had seen such a large number of youths participating in the electoral process.

“If women can participate in sit-ins in such large numbers, they can show their political consciousness by participating in the polling process en masse,” said Nusrat, another voter.

Young men from PTI and the Major Tahir Sadiq group also remained active on polling day. Riding motorbikes sporting party flags and colours, these youths roamed the city dancing to the sound of party anthems and going door-to-door to canvass.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2015