The polling will start at 8am and will continue till 5pm without any break. However, all those who would be within the premises of the polling stations at the closing time would be allowed to cast their votes even after 5pm.
Independent observers predict some upsetting results for all the main political parties, vying for shares in the National and the Sindh assemblies from the city.
The most important feature of the election 2002 is the grant of voting right to all citizens above 18 years of age, contrary to the past when people over 21 years of age were only eligible for exercising their rights to vote.
There are 20 general seats for the city in the National Assembly, for which 269 candidates are in the run, while 623 candidates are vying for the 42 Sindh Assembly seats.
The election commission and the administration have taken due measures to facilitate the voters to cast vote in “a free and peaceful atmosphere.” The authorities have issued necessary instructions to all the government functionaries associated with the election process to ensure their complete neutrality by following the code of conduct to ensure free, fair and transparent polls.
For the 4,747,552 registered voters — 2,658,343 males and 2,089,209 females — 11,971 polling booths have been set up — 5,525 for females and 6,446 for males. There are 3,547 polling stations, out of which 2,000 have been set up in government buildings while over 1300 were improvised.
The strength of voters has increased by over 1.1 million from the last general elections held in 1997.
In 1988, the number of registered voters was 2,947,967 which rose to 3,177,403 in 1990; 3,338,920 in 1993 and in 1997 the figured reached 3,634,041.
The main contending parties are: the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and the People’s Party Parliamentarians, who have fielded largest number of candidates.
The Muttahida and the MMA have fielded candidates for all the 42 general seats of the Sindh Assembly, while the PPP has nominated 39 candidates, followed by Tehrik-i-Insaf (32 candidates), the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (30), the PML-QA (29), National Alliance and the PML (N) each with 28 nominees and the Pakistan Awami Tehrik (25).
The highest number of candidates in any of the 20 National Assembly constituencies is 22 - in NA-251 - followed by 19 contestants in NA-257, 18 in NA-256, 17 in NA-239, while only seven candidates are in the run in NA-243.
In the 42 Provincial Assembly constituencies, PS-126 has the highest number of candidates which is 25, followed by PS-90 and PS-120 which have 24 candidates each, while the lowest number of candidates in the run are in PS-99, 104 and 107, having eight candidates each.
The home department has declared 948 polling stations sensitive, where extra personnel of the law enforcement agencies have been deployed to ensure vigilance.
According to Sindh chief secretary K.B. Rind, a comprehensive security plan has been on the ground since Oct 8 to ensure “fair, free and transparent elections”.
For this purpose, some 30,000 security personnel have been deployed, including 11,600 from police force, and the shortage has been met by acquiring the services of rangers and other auxiliary forces, including private security guards.
In the sensitive polling stations, one officer and five security personnel have been deployed while in other polling stations the ratio would be one officer and three personnel of the law enforcement agencies.
The colour of the ballot paper which would be issued to the voter for the National Assembly is green while that for the Provincial Assembly it is white and the colour of the ballot box would also be indicative of the NA and PA ballot paper colours.