LAHORE, Oct 10: The abysmally low turnout of women was conspicuous at polling stations which came as a surprise to even those deputed to supervize the electoral process on Thursday.

Most of presiding officers and their staff agreed that they never seen a record low turnout in the past.

“The participation of women is not more than nine to 10 per cent, and that might be an overestimation. Last time, it was at the time of the referendum when the turnout hit an all-time low,” said Tariq Shafi, a presiding officer at NA-122.

The total number of women voters registered at seven polling stations was approximately 70,000 to 75,000. According to the version of various presiding officers at those stations, roughly 1,000 women came out to vote.

“The turnout of women was much better in the previous elections,” explained Mehmood Inam, another presiding officer.

Riding on that low mood, polling stations from Dharampura to Shadara looked painfully lacking in activity.

The only place to stimulate some form of excitement was NA-130 where a polling agent of the PML-N tried to create a commotion by tampering with the voters’ list. He was asked by presiding officer Rakhshanda Kokab to leave the room. The agent went outside and started complaining at which Ms Kokab threatened to cancel polling.

Termed one of the most sensitive areas, NA-130 had a heavy security deployed outside as well as inside the compound. The total number of registered voters were 12,000, but only 60 women had managed to cast their ballot by 2:30pm. When asked why the women were not coming, both presiding officers and her assistants said that the political parties had not campaigned hard enough to win their support.

“I am voting because I want to show my husband that I have the right to do so,” expressed a determined veiled woman in NA-130.

But that was not so in most of the cases. It was observed that those women, who had ventured forth to cast their votes, were doing so at the call of the male head of their house. Some of them looked diffident and turned away in irritation when asked if their decision to vote for a particular candidate was made independently.

That is why the activity in NA-118 was surprising when a group of 10 or 12 women came in a rush to vote for Mian Azhar. The group was headed by a stout woman in her mid-50s who would not let the women be questioned. One of them managed to break the code and revealed that she was voting because the ‘stout woman’ was an influential member of her mohalla. She had no idea whom she was voting for or what the process entailed. Stamping on a bicycle did not mean that she was supporting the PML-QA. It simply confirmed what many women of her group were doing.

“I don’t even know who is contesting in this area, and frankly it makes no difference to me. All the symbols are the same,” exposed the code breaker.

She was not referring to the weakness of her eyes, but the complete absence of faith in the candidates.

Giving details of NA-118, presiding officer Zahida Akhtar said that the total number of votes registered was 800, and by 3pm only 90 women had come out to stamp the ballot paper.

“Our first book of ballot papers has not finished yet,” added a disappointed assistant presiding officer, “which only goes on to confirm that by 5pm the total turnout will not be more than 150.”

Though the polling station in NA-126 had an extremely vigilant system of security, it fell short of other factors. One of them was a confusion among women over not finding their names on the voter’s list.

Mrs Rahim Jan, a middle-aged housewife, had been a strict supporter of her right to enfranchisement and had done so in the past three elections. This time, she ended up leaving the polling station without voting.

“I have been living here for many years now. Can you imagine my name is not on the list? How can these candidates expect us to have faith in them when they don’t even care about our votes?” fumed Mrs Rahim Jan.

The number of registered voters in NA-126 was 1144. Being the most active polling station, 166 women had cast votes by 2pm.

Mrs Jan was not the only one facing the problem of not finding her name on the voter’s list. One of the polling agents in NA-122 disclosed that the political parties were responsible for this error.

“Their polling agents have make no effort to check and tally the voter’s list.”

Generally, no untoward violation of the election process could be detected. Everybody, including presiding officers and polling agents, confirmed the impartiality of the polls. Of course minor aberrations were there, which could be viewed as major mistakes by observers. For instance, the section where a voter had to stamp a ballot paper was in full view of the presiding officer and the polling agents. Voter’s privacy had not been considered. A school, turned into a polling station in NA-122, had been deliberately locked up by the headmistress who would not allow the building’s furniture to be used.

“Neither would she open up the any room for polling,” said Mehmood Inam, a presiding officer.

“This has been the most tedious election of my life. But there is no rigging. How can there be when very few are coming out to vote?” complained Mrs Inam.

The only place where a semblance of women’s activity was visible was in NA-119. Total registered voters were 1,197. By 1:30pm, 22 women had come to vote but Mobeen Butt, the SHO of the Tibbi police station, was hopeful that more would turn up.

“Women usually get up very late here. They will start coming after 2pm,” said Mr Butt amusedly. But the situation remained unchanged after 2pm.

The prevailing impression among the women of Oct 10 elections was that the candidates had already been selected. Besides, they were tired of travelling long distance under the scorching sun to choose someone only to be let down later.

“Why should I vote? What difference will it make to me? I did that twice before but nothing happened,” said a disillusioned teacher.

The only women out there at the polling stations were those either led by men to vote for their favourites or genuinely believed in giving these elections one last chance. But they were miserably few to make any difference.