KARACHI: Polling in Korangi and East districts of Karachi remained largely peaceful on Wednesday as turnout at majority of polling stations stayed low in the first half of the day but started gathering pace in the second half, amid much enthusiasm among political workers of the contesting parties and tight security arrangements backed by personnel of Pakistan Army, paramilitary Rangers and police.

Under thick clouds and pleasant weather, dozens of people were seen outside several polling stations with moderate number of young voters.

According to data collected by Dawn from over two dozen polling stations of Korangi district, average turnout remained close to 30 per cent till 1pm. An election commission staffer at Government Boys Secondary School No. 1 Saudabad said that till 11am, the situation was quite “disappointing” but a moderate number of people started arriving to cast votes after that.

The situation largely remained calm and peaceful in all three National Assembly constituencies — NA-239, NA-240 and NA-241 — of Korangi district where seven seats of the provincial assembly — PS-92, PS-93, PS-94, PS-95, PS-96, PS-97 and PS-98 — were also being contested. Apart from smooth process for voters, the situation was not ideal for the polling staff as large number of buildings serving as polling stations did not have adequate facility of washroom and drinking water. The frequent power outages only added to their miseries.

Emotional scenes were witnessed in Shah Faisal Colony No. 5 where a large number of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) workers outnumbered the activists of Pakistan Sarzameen Party (PSP) after almost half an hour of charged chanting from both sides in favour of their leaders and parties. The situation forced police and Rangers to intervene who dispersed the crowd, but the entire episode remained peaceful.

Same situation was witnessed in Zaman Town area of Korangi where workers of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) and MQM-P were charged amid slogans outside a polling station. No arrest was made in any of the incidents as authorities said in each incident law and order remained effective and electoral process stayed normal.

Among four National Assembly constituencies in East district, NA-242, NA-243, NA-244 and NA-245, most enthusiasm was seen outside polling stations of NA-243. In this constituency some heavyweights, including Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, Ali Raza Abidi of MQM-P and Shehla Raza of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) were contesting the election. The turnout in the district stayed quite low till 3pm and it only gathered some pace three hours before the polling time concluded.

At Muhammadi School, one of the polling stations of NA-243 in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, only 437 people had cast their votes till 3pm out of over 900 registered voters. A large number of voters were seen outside the camps of the PTI in the constituency followed by MQM-P and MMA. The PPP in terms of workforce on the ground failed to show impressive performance in the constituency. The mainstream parties were contesting total eight seats — PS-99, PS-100, PS-101, PS-102, PS-103, PS-104, PS-105 and PS-106 — of the provincial assembly in the district.

Unlike dull and dry polling in two constituencies of Malir district, NA-238 offered much interest to voters and people who were monitoring the elections. The workers and voters of Pakistan Rah-i-Haq Party — an electoral platform of the banned Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) — had strong presence in it. The party’s Aurangzeb Farooqi was contesting election from the constituency. The constituency consists of multiethnic neighbourhoods, including Korangi Creek, Ibrahim Hyderi, Rehri Goth, Chashma Goth, Quaidabad, Landhi, Radio Colony Landhi, Gulistan Society, Zafar Town, Qaddafi Town, Labour Colony, Bhains Colony, Labour Square, Muslim League Colony, Cattle Colony, Qaim Town, Old Muzaffarabad, New Muzaffarabad, Majeed Colony, Bilal Colony, Landhi Muslim Colony and many other localities of low-income groups.

The election in NA-238 was different from two other constituencies of Malir district as names of a couple of heavyweights of Karachi politics in the list of contesting candidates put it under the spotlight. For instance Shahi Syed of Awami National Party (ANP) is contesting from the constituency where he is facing PPP’s Syed Rafiullah, MQM-P’s Gulfaraz Khan Khattak and MMA’s Mohammad Islam.

The most challenging situation for people remained the handling of their mobile phones while casting their votes as the gadgets were not allowed inside the polling station. Lack of proper arrangements for keeping people’s mobile phones safe forced a large number of voters to return or go through hectic exercise for assuring their gadgets’ safety before casting their votes.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2018