By-polls conclude peacefully… and unremarkably

Low turnout witnessed in all three constituencies being contested in Sindh

KARACHI: Polling activity largely remained lacklustre in the two constituencies up for grabs in Karachi -NA-243 and PS-87 - on Sunday as much of the excitement from the day of the general elections seemed amiss at the polling stations.

The polling started promptly at 8am and continued till 5pm. No untoward incident was reported from either constituency throughout the day. In fact, party representatives present at their respective camps looked almost bored for lack of voters approaching them for information.

NA-243

The voter frequency picked up slightly in NA-243 after 9am. Here, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) Alamgir Khan, of FixIt fame, took on Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan's (MQM-P) Amir Waliuddin Chishti - a businessman. The two parties are coalition partners in the federal government.

Other candidates include Syed Asif Hasnain of the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP), Syed Nawazul Huda of Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and Hakim Ali Jaskani of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The constituency, which comprises Dohraji, Pir Ilahi Bux Colony, PECHS Block II, Bahadurabad, parts of Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Gulistan-e-Jauhar, among others, has a population of 695,588 residents. Of these, 58% are registered voters, including 211,510 men and 191,221 women.

The turnout in the general elections held on July 25 was recorded at 41.14%. The seat was won by Prime Minister Imran Khan, who later opted to vacate it and retain his hometown seat of NA-95 (Mianwali-I)

Aslam Shah, a PTI worker on election duty at the party's camp outside the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (Fuuast), said not a single voter had shown up before 9am. "We have been waiting for an hour," he said, echoing the sentiments of his colleagues who all seemed perturbed by the low turnout. "If our voters don't come out, we can get into trouble."

Meanwhile, the PSP's camp seemed deserted late into the afternoon. "Not more than 10 voters have visited our camp since morning," lamented a party worker, who asked not to be named.

A similar situation was witnessed at Shanti Nagar near Dalmia, where the voter turnout was reportedly underwhelming. At the PPP camp, the party's city area in-charge, Ahmed Iqbal, seemed optimistic about getting a good number of votes from Dalmia. "The area largely populated by the Kutchi Memon, Baloch and Sindhi communities, who are largely PPP voters," he explained, adding that even if they lost the seat, they would receive a good number of votes from Shanti Nagar and Dalmia.

The MQM-P camp, meanwhile, looked relatively happier. "The low turnout could work to our advantage," said a volunteer, adding that they had dedicated voters who would vote for their candidate, no matter what. "It is the PTI's voter who isn't showing up today the way they showed up in the general elections," he added.

PTI candidate, Alamgir, after casting his vote in Gulshan College, addressed the media. "People have always supported me for FixIt and they have been there when I went out on the roads for the social cause and when I went to jail."

He also urged voters to get out and cast their vote. "Today is a chance to overturn the history of Karachi."

To a question about his competitor from the MQM-P, he replied with his own question. "Which MQM-P - Buhadarabad, PIB or some other faction?" he quipped.

PS-87

Over a dozen candidates were in the fray for the provincial assembly seat which comprises large parts of Bin Qasim Town and Gadap Town in Malir district. As many as 146,142 people were registered in this constituency. The two main contenders were PPP's Sajid Jokhio and PTI's Sardar Qadir Buksh Gabol, who was formerly affiliated with the PPP.

Elections on the seat had earlier been postponed after the death of the TLP candidate, a few days ahead of the general elections.



The constituency has traditionally been a stronghold of the PPP. The turnout on Sunday was higher in the rural parts of the constituency as compared to the urban. Independent observers were of the opinion that PPP's Jokhio holds considerable sway in the rural areas and thus managed to bring voters out of their homes. Nevertheless, voting started off slowly as the polling stations opened and completely lulled around noon, before picking up slightly later in the afternoon, before the end of polling time.

PS-30 (Khairpur)

Marked by a reportedly low turnout, the polling process in PS-30, Khairpur district, completed peacefully on Sunday. A one-on-one combat between PPP's Syed Ahmed Raza Shah Jeelani and Grand Democratic Alliance's Syed Muharram Ali Shah Lakyari was witnessed in the constituency.

Commissioner Sukkur Rafiq Ahmed Buriro told the media that the polling process completed peacefully in all the polling stations in PS-30. The district returning officer Syed Nadeem Haider told the media that the Election Commission of Pakistan completed all arrangements two days prior to the polling which helped ensure a smooth voting process on Sunday. A total of 156,127 people were registered to vote. The ECP set up 124 polling stations, of which 89 were declared very sensitive and 35 sensitive. More than 500 polling staff were deputed at the stations.



Polling began at 8 am and concluded by 5 pm. Jeelani cast his vote in a polling station set up in a high school in Ranipur area while Lakyari cast his vote at a health centre in Hingorjo area. Some 1,200 policemen and 800 Rangers personnel were deployed for security.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2018.