KARACHI, Oct 10: Oppressive weather in the city forced a considerable number of people to stay indoors rather than venture out and cast their votes.

Officials at the Pakistan Meteorological Department told Dawn that the maximum temperature in the city had been 40 degrees Centigrade.

Many voters at different polling stations told Dawn that they were regretting their decision of visiting the polling stations in this heat. “My friends are having a get-together today where they will have a lot of fun. I came here to cast my vote because I felt that it was moral responsibility to do so. I am having second thoughts about my decision now,” said a teen-aged voter, Nadeem Haider, at an Azizabad polling station.

A presiding officer at a Nazimabad polling station looked very embarrassed as if it was his fault that they were not many voters at polling station which was situated in the middle of nowhere at a little-known school. “The reason why a lot of people have not come to cast their vote is the unbearable heat.”