RAWALPINDI, Jan 15: The turnout in the by-polls for the national (NA-56) and provincial (PP-8) assemblies in the district remained low at 23.97 per cent.
The participation was sluggish right from the start of polling at 8am because of cold weather, working day in areas neighbouring the constituency where most of the residents go for work and lack of interest among the public.
Initially, the polling was very poor, but it picked pace after 2pm, a polling officer in Satellite Town said.
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, talking to this reporter, said the turnout was very poor because Wednesday was a working day. This, he said, was very significant for NA-56, which had a predominantly working-class population. Otherwise, he added, the polling went on smoothly till 5pm.
There was, however, one incident in Islampura in PP-8 where a man was arrested for brandishing a pistol. The police officers said no injuries were reported in the incident as the man was arrested and the weapon seized. However, there were unconfirmed reports of injury to a man.
Business in the city continued normally and people remained engaged in their daily chores, almost aloof from the contest. But, in the evening the political parties activists riding motorbikes and cars carrying party flags created some activity as they went from one polling station to the other gathering results of their candidates.
Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s candidate Hanif Abbasi too was satisfied with the conduct of polling. “Everything is peaceful and we do not have any complaint,” he told this reporter.
Pakistan Peoples Party’s local leader Nasir Mir said people remained away from this election because they were burdened with economic problems and were not sure about the future of democracy under President Gen Pervez Musharraf.
Moreover, he said, apprehensions about the fairness of the by-elections stopped people from coming to the polling stations. Accepting the defeat of the PPP candidate, Nasir Mir said it was because of poor planning and some bad decisions by the party leadership.
AGENCIES ADD: In order to avoid any untoward incident, heavy contingency of police was deployed at almost all polling stations of NA-56 and PP-8 constituencies.
The Election Commission had established 223 polling stations for 231,962 voters including 124,462 men and 107,536 women voters of NA-56 constituency.
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid had vacated NA-56 seat and retained NA-55 seat, which he had won in the October general elections as an independent candidate.
The PML-Q had fielded Sheikh Rashid Shafiq, the nephew of the information minister, while Hanif Abbasi was the MMA candidate for the by-elections. The PPP had fielded Yousaf Mirza as their candidate.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Mirza Rafiuz Zaman was the returning officer for NA-56 constituency.
