SIALKOT, April 30: There was low voters’ turnout in the presidential referendum in most of the Punjab on Tuesday.
In Sialkot and Narowal districts, people showed no interest in the polling process. Polling stations gave deserted look by late afternoon. But after 4pm, people started visiting polling stations to cast vote.
The majority of the people living in the villages along the working boundary could not cast their vote due to heavy Indian shelling on Pakistani territories.
Permanent UN observers based in Sialkot, local journalists and foreign media observers, including Ray Terril, Jeff Murphy, Mrs Lisa Murphy, Miss Alex, Mr Penny and Michael Liu, on Tuesday visited various polling stations to monitor the process. They were surprised to see polling stations deserted.
Later, they observed that the actual situation negated the government claim about the rousing success in the referendum.
The lawyers community and the Jamaat-i-Islami completely boycotted the referendum, while the PPP and the PML(N) remained split over the question.
When this scribe talked to some voters at a polling station, they claimed that they cast more than one vote each. Some of them claimed that they had cast several votes. Even children of 10 years of age, who were passing by the polling stations, were allowed to cast vote.
However, the local government claimed that about 55 per cent to 60 per cent turnout was expected in Sialkot and Narowal districts.
Some councillors, seeking anonymity, held Nazimeen and their deputies responsible for the low turnout of voters. They claimed that they could not motivate voters to cast votes.
SARGODHA: The district government miserably failed to ensure reasonable turnout in the presidential referendum in the district on Tuesday.
This scribe visited various polling stations, including Comprehensive Girls High School, Convent School, MC Primary School, Ambala Muslim High School, excise offices and GH School No 2, and till 1pm almost all of them were giving deserted look.
Although the public transport was impounded, no vehicle was seen ferrying voters even in the rural areas.
In Bhera town, not a single voter turned up to cast vote till 2pm. When this correspondent visited various polling stations of tehsils Bhalwal, Sillanwali, Sahiwal and Shahpur, the position was the same.
District Nazim Malik Amjad Ali Noon and tehsil Nazim Tasnim Qureshi led a rally which took round of the city and raised pro-referendum slogans. The rally comprised about 400 people, mostly government servants. But official sources said they were common people, and were about 1,000 in number.
In Luliani village, polling started an hour ahead of time — at 8am — in view of the demand of the people who were busy in harvesting.
When this scribe asked about the reasons for poor turnout from some councillors, they told this scribe on condition of anonymity that all the Nazimeen focussed on press statement and no practical step was taken in this regard.
They said neither tehsil Nazim nor district Nazim motivated the voters to participate in the referendum. They alleged that some Nazimeen embezzled the money given to them for making arrangements for referendum.
This scribe also visited some polling stations in Khushab and Joharabad and some polling stations of villages falling on the route and found them empty. At about 4pm the number of votes cast did not exceed 200 although they were set up in thickly populated areas. The polling stations situated in posh areas the number of votes cast did not exceed 70.
It is interesting to note that in the general elections the number of votes polled used to be more than 2,000 while it was only 70 on Tuesday. In the 1998 general elections, turnout was less than 27 per cent although the government had claimed it to be around 39 per cent, and the turnout in the local government elections of 2001 was not more than 40 per cent.
GUJRANWALA: Polling remained peaceful throughout the district on Tuesday.
According to reports reaching here, the pace of polling in the first two hours was sluggish. It improved when activists of various political parties took out rallies in favour of referendum.
A rally of women was also taken out by women councillors in favour of referendum.
However, activists of anti-referendum parties stayed away from voting.
TOBA TEK SINGH: Voters’ turnout was thin before noon which improved when the officially arranged vehicles brought them to polling stations. Vehicles of various government departments, including police and Wapda, also transported voters to the polling stations.
Some Millat Party workers also brought voters to polling stations. Traffic police were seen forcing passengers at bus and wagon stands to vote for the president at special polling stations set up there.
At some of the polling stations even the polling staff stamped ballot papers while the ‘close’ men of Nazimeen and councillors used their right to vote repeatedly at a number of polling stations.
According to an official, the turnout of voters in the district was around 38 per cent by 5:15pm. The district Nazim had given Rs10,000 to every union council Nazim to meet transport expenses. However, at some polling stations some of the councillors were seen accusing each other of not using the money on hiring transport. The Nazim had also given an incentive to the Nazimeen that he would give special grant of Rs1 million to those union councils where turnout of voters would be the highest.
BAHAWALNAGAR: Polling station gave ghostly look here on Tuesday. The turnout was very low till in the afternoon.
Government officials claimed that hot weather was the reason for low turnout. Most of the polling staff was sitting idle and requested the journalists to cast votes during their visit to the polling stations.
Polling stations at villages received more voters than the city areas.
In Chishtian tehsil, the voters turnout was better in the early hours of the day. In Minchinabad tehsil, Nazimeen kept bringing the voters to the polling stations.
In Haroonabad tehsil a mixed reaction was seen despite the fact that former minister Abdul Sattar Lalika had urged his supporters to show up in big numbers.
In Fortabbas tehsil, the turnout in urban areas was low as compared to the rural areas.
MULTAN: Meanwhile, a very thin turnout was observed in the districts of southern Punjab on the eve of referendum.
The government was heavily banking on the efforts of local body representatives elected under the devolution plan, but they miserably failed to bring voters to the polling stations.
Scorching heat, wheat harvesting, lack of political motivation and competition were the factors listed by the analysts as drawbacks that marred the referendum to draw public attention. Polling booths set up at the government offices were the only places where the turnout would be cent per cent.
This correspondent visited Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan districts to observe how people were responding to the referendum in the districts one led by Nazim Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was not supporting the referendum-campaign, and the other by Jamal Leghari, a staunch supporter of the general. But the cold response in both the districts by the people at large was identical.
In DG Khan, though the Millat Party left no stone unturned to show its loyalty to the government, but it could not succeed in playing the role of any major ‘crowd-puller’.
The Punjab governor himself visited several polling stations in Multan city but his presence also failed to make any difference.
There were no voter lists at the polling stations. The polling staff was also showing a lenient behaviour towards voters as this correspondent used his right to vote at four different polling stations but none bothered to mark the irremovable ink on the thumb. At one polling station, the polling staff even allowed to cast vote without checking any identity, saying “tell any national ID card number”. At some places people were seen casting votes for their whole family.
VEHARI: Polling stations in the rural and urban gave a deserted look throughout the day. Only the government employees were seen casting their vote.
A government employee said he was warned by his high ups that he would be sacked if he failed to cast his vote in favour of the president.
A sanitary worker said he polled six votes at various polling stations in the city.
A source claimed that more than a hundred employees of various government departments visited various polling stations on dozens of vehicles and cast votes for several times.
Turnout of voters in the rural areas was also very low. Mostly small growers did not cast their vote in protest against the government policies. A grower of Karampur, Muhammad Bakhsh, said he was not interested in referendum till his wheat crop was sold at the fixed rates.
However, political parties PML(QA), Pakistan Awami Tehrik and Tehrik-i-Insaaf set up camp in various parts of the district.
The PPP, the PML(N) and Jamaat-i-Islami boycotted the referendum. Some of the workers were seen asking people not to cast their votes.
According to reports reaching here, turnout was also low in Mailsi and Burewala.
A resident of Chak 192/EB, Sardar Muhammad Chaudhry, told this scribe that an announcement was made from the mosque of the village early in the morning by the official of district administration that all the residents of village must cast their votes.
SHEIKHUPURA: The turnout of voters remained thin in and around the city. However, official sources termed it satisfactory and up to 60 per cent to 65 per cent.
During a visit to various polling stations, this scribe found no enthusiasm among voters.
Activists of the PML(QA), the Tehrik-i-Insaaf and the PAT took out pro-referendum processions in the city.
A resident of Feroze Wattoowan, Ghulam Rasool, said he took part in the referendum with great fervour. He said he took 300 to 400 people of his area and family members to cast their votes. He termed the turnout in Feroze Wattoowan and its adjoining areas satisfactory.
DERA GHAZI KHAN: Hit by lack of public interest, the majority of the polling stations in rural and urban areas gave a deserted look. Turnout remained below 5 per cent while officials claimed that it was around 38 per cent.
Polling camps set up by the Millat Party, the Pakistan Awami Tehrik and the PML(QA) were nearly without voters. According to sources, a number of presiding officer refused to allow casting of bogus votes.
MORE THAN 100 PC TURNOUT: Turnout was more than 100 per cent in the tribal areas of Dera Ghazi Khan. The Election Commission sent 1,400 ballot papers against 800 registered voters at Barthi polling station. The polling staff demanded more ballot papers which were dispatched immediately. Same was the case with Bawata and Shambo polling stations.
FAISALABAD: A low turnout was witnessed in the city and its suburban areas.
At almost all the polling stations, the polling staff was seen quite lenient with the voters as they hardly checked identification cards and other documents.
Announcements were made in a number of localities through megaphones and mosque loudspeakers asking people to cast vote in the referendum, but they stayed away from the polling stations.
This correspondent visited some 43 polling stations. No rush was witnessed at any polling station expect those which were set up for the first time by the agencies concerned. In rural areas, a moderate turnout was witnessed. The same situation was observed in Saddar, Chak Jhumra, Tandlianwala, Samundari, Jaranwala and Mamukanjan.
RAHIM YAR KHAN: The referendum process remained peaceful in the district.
The turnout seemed to be good. There was a hustle and bustle at the polling stations.
KASUR: The turnout was about 20 per cent in the district. Nazimeen asked their men to cast more than vote each in favour of the president.
Police officials were seen forcing passengers of buses to cast vote. Even children around 10 years of age were seen casting vote.
A leader of the Christian community came to Kasur tehsil Nazim Malik Rashid Ahmad Khan’s office along with a mob and told him that they were being forced to cast votes again and again in favour of Gen Musharraf. PML(QA) central vice-president Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri, market committee chairman Nadeem Haroon Khan and local journalists were also sitting there.
BAHAWALPUR: Government officials here claimed on Tuesday that a large number of people cast vote in favour of Gen Pervez Musharraf in Ahmedpur East, Hasilpur Tamewali and Yazman.
They said that polling for the referendum continued from 9am to 7pm without any break throughout the district.
District Nazim Tariq Cheema, Naib Nazim Syed Owais Gardezi, Punjab Agriculture Minister Khursheed Zaman Qureshi, Bahawalpur Ittehad president Syed Tasneem Nawaz Gardezi and secretary Syed Tabish Alwari visited a number of polling stations in urban and rural areas. The agriculture minister cast his vote at Bhatta polling station.
Former MNA and PML-Q leader Sahibzada Farooq Anwar Abbasi and District Council member Rafatur Rahmani took out separate processions to motivate people to vote in favour of Gen Pervez Musharraf.
Leaders and activists of the Millat Party, PML(Q), Pakistan Awami Party and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf were seen requesting the voters to cast their votes in favour of Gen Musharraf.
Islamia University’s Vice-chancellor Prof Dr Munir Akhtar, Quaid-i-Azam Medical College principal executive officer Prof Dr Maj Muhammad Amin (retired) and senior officials of health department remained at the polling stations to ensure that their subordinates cast their votes.
No untoward incident was reported from any part of the district till the filing of this report.
Governor: Governor Khalid Maqbool visited four different polling stations here on Tuesday and expressed his satisfaction over the arrangements made for referendum.
The governor arrived here at 10am and visited the polling stations set up at Chah Boharwala, Daholat Gate, Neethar Land Polytechnic Institute and the Government Muslim High School for Boys.
He left for Faisalabad at 11am.
A British High Commission staff member, Nick Cannon, being an observer also visited some polling stations.