Cantonment board: South Punjab voters prefer independents

Independents win all five seats in Okara Cantonment.

OKARA: Independent candidates won a majority of wards in Multan and Okara cantonments on Saturday.

In Okara Cantonment, all five seats were won by independent candidates. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), who had all fielded candidates, failed to win any seat.

In Okara Cantonment, a total of 41 candidates were contesting for the five seats. Three polling stations had been set up in every ward. There were a total of 22,300 voters.

In Ward 1, Akhtar Hameed, an independent candidate, prevailed with 286 votes. In Ward 2, Nadeem Anwar Bhatti, an independent candidate, defeated won with 492 votes.

In Ward 3, independent candidate Raja Akram won with 662 votes. In Ward 4, Maqbool Ahmed Sabir, an independent candidate, won with 1,638 votes. In Ward 5, independent candidate Shehzad Shafiq won with 1,768 votes.

In Multan Cantonment Board, the PTI and PML-N secured three seats each. The remaining four were won by independent candidates.

Chaudhry Niaz Tariq of PML-N won the Ward 3 and Zaigham Tayyab of PTI the Ward 10 seat after rival candidates withdrew nomination papers.

The Ward 1 was won by a PML-N candidate with 594 votes. Sheikh Muhammad Aslam, an independent, won the Ward 2 with 159 votes. PTI candidate Saeed Ahmed Moni won the Ward 4 with 445 votes. PML-N candidate Khalid Asad won the Ward 5 with 296 votes.

PTI candidates Yaqoob Shera won the Ward 6 with 454 votes. Humayun Akbar, an independent candidate, won the Ward 7 with 390 votes. Independent candidate Khursheed Ahmed Khan won the Ward 8 with 253 votes. Another independent candidate, Shamshad Ali Khan, won the Ward 9 with 370 votes.

Multan Garrison Commander Maj Gen Hasnaat Amir Gillani monitored the polling arrangements.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2015.