Refugees cast ballot: Polling in Pindi division concludes peacefully

Elections were held in LA-39 (Valley-IV), LA-40 (Valley-V) and LA-35 (Jammu-VI)

RAWALPINDI: Polling in Rawalpindi Division on Thursday for refugee seats in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly (AJK-LA) went on peacefully.

In the Rawalpindi district, elections were held in the constituencies of LA-39 (Valley-IV), LA-40 (Valley-V) and LA-35 (Jammu-VI), where a total of 101 polling stations were set up.

Police, rangers and army personnel were deployed at every polling station to ensure peaceful holding of elections.

No untoward incident or rigging was reported from any polling station as people lined up to cast their votes at 8am.

A large number of women and men voters turned up to cast their ballots.

At some polling stations, candidates had also arranged transport facilities for their voters.

The security staff deployed at the polling stations did not allow people without national identity cards to enter.

Rush at polling stations gained momentum after 4pm as a large number of voters lined up to cast their ballots before the polling was closed at 5pm.

Candidates had also set up stalls near polling stations to serve their voters with different kinds of foods and drinks, in violation of the election code of conduct.

Police and local administration officials also visited different polling stations and expressed their satisfaction over the arrangements.

Different local leaders including Malik Abrar, Shakil Awan, Zahid Kazmi, Sardar Naseem, Haji Pervez Khan, Babar Sultan Chaudhry Tanvir Khan and others also made their presence felt by visiting different polling camps of their respective candidates to express solidarity with them.

In Jhelum, polling for LA-35 (Jammu-VI) and LA-38 (Valley-III) were held peacefully as the local administration had made elaborate arrangements to facilitate the voters.

A total of 26 polling stations had been set up in Jhelum and the number of registered voters was 11,756.

Jhelum DCO Iqbal Hussain along with police officials visited different polling stations and expressed their satisfaction over the arrangements.

No untoward incident or rigging was reported as police and rangers personnel had been deployed outside every polling station.

Jhelum District Election Commissioner Khurshid Alam, who along with army officials visited different polling stations, said that the polling went smoothly.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22^nd, 2016.