KARACHI, Aug 18: Two presiding officers were arrested on the charge of rigging as the first phase of local body election, which remained by and large peaceful, completed on Thursday.

Four people, including a policeman, were injured in incidents of violence at different places in the city.

One of the arrested presiding officers, Ahmed Suleman, a schoolteacher, was posted at booth No. 220, Government Women’s College, Pirabad, in Site Town. According to police, a polling agent of the Al-Khidmat Group had lodged a complaint with the Returning Officer, Munawwar Sultana, an additional district and sessions judge, accusing Ahmed Suleman of having indulged in bogus voting.

The RO, along with Rangers personnel, immediately raided the polling station and picked up the presiding officer. He was later handed over to police.

The police said that four ballot boxes were recovered from the possession of Ahmed Suleman against whom an FIR (414/05) under sections 171-F/511 PPC had been registered.

The other arrested presiding officer, Mohammad Asif, was posted at CMS School on Nishter Road. Police claimed having recovered 500 bogus votes from his possession. An FIR (114/05) was registered against him at the Eidgah police station. Mohammad Asif works as deputy director in the finance department of the City District Government Karachi. The raid was conducted on a complaint lodged by a polling agent.

In the incidents of violence, a policeman on guard duty outside a polling station, set up at the Children Academy School (UC-11), Pirabad, Site Town, was shot at and wounded by some unknown men riding a motorcycle. The victim, Arsalan Jamshed, received one bullet and was rushed to a hospital.

In another incident, unidentified armed men on motorcycles opened fire at an election camp on Katcha Road, Central Jacobline, in the limits of the Brigade police. As a result, Shafique Qalandar, 15, and Ilahi Bux, 30, were injured and shifted to a hospital.

An activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was injured in a clash between supporters of MQM and Sunni Tehrik at an election camp near Chuna Bhatti. Activists of both the groups indulged in fist-fighting during which one person, later identified as Naseem Yaseen, 35, was injured and taken to a hospital.

In Orangi Town’s UC-11, Juman Darbar, a polling agent of Awam Dost panel, was arrested for causing injuries to a presiding officer, Mohammad Arif. According to the police, Juman Darbar had indulged in altercation with Mohammad Arif and threw a chair to hit the latter.

The Taimuria police arrested a man at a polling station in Buffer Zone’s sector 15/A-4. The man, identified as Arshad Mir, had been impersonating as an army major, the police said, adding that he was an inspector in the income tax department. Mir, accompanied by Abdur Razzak Hashmi, who managed to escape, was trying to enter a polling station when arrested. He was affiliated with a religious party, the police said.

Heavy deployment of police and Rangers was witnessed across the city during the course of the polling. A helicopter carried out air surveillance while army, police and Rangers personnel patrolled roads and streets of the metropolis whole the day.

The city police officer Tariq Jamil said that no major law and order situation was reported from any part of the city. He said that four people were arrested for their alleged involvement in different election-related cases whereas another six were taken into custody for keeping unlicensed weapons.