KARACHI, Oct 10: Voters in the predominant Christian locality of Essa Nagri seemed disinterested in the General Elections-2002, as the four polling stations set-up in the area witnessed a low turn-out on Thursday.

The four polling stations — 66, 67, 68 and 69 — having eight polling booths were set up at the Milk Plant at Sir Shah Sulaiman Road.

At polling station No 66 in NA-252 and PS-116, of a total 1,100 registered voters, 150 votes were polled by 3:20 pm, said the presiding officer, Faiz Ahmed.

At polling station No 67, of a total 1,778 registered voters, 230 votes were polled by 3.30 pm.

At polling station No 68, of 1,408 registered voters, 169 male votes were polled, while 77 female votes were polled at 3:40 pm.

At polling station No 69, out of the total registered 375 female voters, 52 were polled by 4 pm.

Out of the total 485 registered male voters, 117 were polled by the same time.

The polling station No 68 presented a similar picture by 4 pm.

Khawar Husain, presiding officer of the polling station No 67 said people came with photo-copies of NIC, receipts of NADRA, passport and driving licence.

He had to return them because we had strict instructions to accept only original NICs, the presiding officer added.

Shamim, 35, a house-wife who had come to cast her vote, opined that during last hour the pace might pick-up.

“Due to hot weather, people preferred to stay indoors and enjoy the public holiday” she added.

Orean, a matric student who has not attained the voters age accompanying Shamim, remarked that last time during local bodies elections, Essa Nagri witnessed a law and order situation, so people might have stayed indoors fearing a similar situation, she added.

Commenting on the low turn-out, the presiding officer of the polling station No 69, Nadir Ali opined that there was no minority candidate contesting the elections from this constituency. This may be the core reason why Essa Nagri residents preferred staying away from polls.

Candidates include Aasia Tariq of PTI who is contesting from NA-252, Ali Zaidi of PTI from PS-116, Syed Shakir Ali of MQM from PS 108, Barkat Ali of Muttahida from PS 116, M. Intizar Husain Qureshi of Muttahida from NA-252 and Mohammad Saeed Shafiq of PML-N for NA-252.