KARACHI: Contrary to the hype largely created by social media about, and for, the general elections, it was a phlegmatic start to Wednesday morning. There were no long queues of people in as varied constituencies as NA-250 and NA-244, the southern and eastern parts of the city. At 8.30am, it hardly looked as if the day was special. From Defence’s Khayabans to Sharea Faisal, and all the way to Dalmia Road and Gulistan-i-Jauhar, it seemed like a lazy Sunday. It wasn’t.

Things began to pick up at around 9.30am. Gradually, the camps set up by political parties on Dr Ziauddin Road and near Metropole Hotel started getting visitors. A more than sizable presence of police and other law enforcing personnel outside polling stations gave the impression of a sombre scenario. It wasn’t. Compared to 2013, things were going on pretty smoothly. However, there were a couple of hiccups.

In Gulistan-i-Jauhar, for instance, a policeman guarding the main door to a polling station (a university campus) was not allowing voters to take their mobile phones inside the station. A woman argued with him, and he kept replying, pretty cordially, that he had orders not to allow people to take their mobile phones into the voting area.

Political parties’ camps in Gulistan-i-Jauhar too did not cut a healthy picture in terms of numbers. But it changed in a couple hours, presumably after people had had a hearty breakfast.

The thing that caused consternation to some men and women, especially the elderly, was having difficulty in finding the exact location of their station. People above the age of 60 usually don’t carry mobile phones, and the fact that one was asked to send one’s CNIC number to 8300 in order to know where

the polling station was, did not prove handy for the older lot. They were seen asking the boys and girls placed by political parties at their camps where they needed to go to cast their vote. And interestingly, some of the boys and girls too were dependent on the 8300 text message.

Also, the reply to the message from that number was not as swift as claimed by the authorities concerned. Sometimes it took 20 minutes or more to know which station one was supposed to cast one’s vote in.

While the heavy presence of law enforcing personnel in polling stations required everyone to be on their best behaviour, things kept moving without much hullabaloo. There were also complaints by some voters that they couldn’t easily spot their polling booths. This was largely to do with the cards that they received at camps. Political parties still need to learn that while wooing the voters requires the gift of the gab and the talent to persuade adult population to think favourably for them, facilitating people on election day is a different ball game altogether.

Post-lunch, the pace picked up. Now it appeared as if people were in a hurry to have their say. It was a good sign. But it also caused a bit of a helter-skelter situation, but nothing to ring alarm bells. In all fairness, and despite all odds and the political hoo-ha that preceded the elections, the voter turnout on July 25 was very encouraging. As for the results, fingers (and inked thumbs) crossed.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2018