By-polls: Elections held peacefully amid low turnout

Heavy security in place for PM Imran at Bani Gala polling station

RAWALPINDI/ ISLAMABAD: Polling for the three national assembly seats in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi concluded peacefully on Sunday with only some minor scuffles reported. Two more national assembly seats are up for grabs in Attock and Chakwal districts.

In the federal capital, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ‘home’ constituency of NA-53 was up for grabs. Imran had contested the July 25 elections from five constituencies including one in the capital, NA-35 in Bannu, NA-243 in Karachi, NA-95 Mianwali-I and NA-131 Lahore. Having swept polls on all the seats he contested on, Imran retained his NA-95 seat while vacating the four others.

On NA-53, the PTI has fielded Ali Awan,

In Rawalpindi District, two national assembly seats were up for grabs including NA-60 and NA-63.

Elections for NA-60 had to be postponed after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and candidate Hanif Abbasi was arrested and then sentenced to jail for life in the eight-year-old ephedrine case, automatically disqualifying him from contesting the elections and the elections were postponed.

NA-63 fell vacant after it was vacated by its winner Ghulam Sarwar Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Ghulam had contested two seats, NA-59 Rawalpindi-III and NA-63. He won both seats during the July 25 elections, beating off competition from PML-N stalwart and former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. Ghulam had secured 89,055 votes in NA-59 and 100,986 votes in NA-63 as opposed to Nisar’s 66,369 and 65,767 votes for the respective seats.

In NA-56 Attock-II, it was a similar tale. PTI’s Tahir Sadik had contested two seats in the July 25 elections including NA-55 Attock-I and NA-56 Attock-II. He won both seats by handsome margins, gaining 145,168 votes in the former and 163,326 votes in the latter.

He opted to retain NA-55 where he had defeated PML-N’s Sheikh Aftab Ahmed by a margin of over 40,000 votes.

In NA-65 Chakwal-II, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi had won by securing a whopping 157,497 votes, comfortably beating off competition from PML-N’s Muhammad Faiz Malik who could only muster 106,081 votes. Elahi also gave up his NA-69 seat as he retained his provincial assembly seat of PP-30 to become the speaker of the Punjab Assembly.

Of the provincial assembly seats, two Punjab provincial assembly seats are up for grabs in the Rawalpindi division including PP-3 Attock-III and PP-27 Jhelum-III.

Polling commenced exactly at 8am and continued without any break until 5pm in the evening. After 5pm, only the voters who were inside the polling station were allowed to vote.

Despite some interest in the polls, the overall turnout of voters was quite low in the morning with only a few votes cast in the first hour in a majority of the polling stations while no votes were cast by women.

Since it was Sunday and a holiday, voters came out of their houses after 11am which contributed to an increased turnout as the day wore on but it was still not close to the one witnessed in the July 25 general elections.  Hence hardly any queues were seen at any polling station.

The young voters did not turn out to cast votes in the by-elections as they did in the general elections while women turnout was also low.

However, adults and senior citizens came to cast their votes as usual. Disabled people were brought on wheelchairs. Even those with visual impairment were brought to cast their votes. They were provided with facilities to cast their votes. Many senior citizens were brought to the polling stations with support.

There was a ban on bringing mobiles to the polling stations due to which many people left without casting their votes.

All candidates toured the polling stations and expressed satisfaction on the polling arrangements. Returning Officer Saleem Akhtar Khan, CPO Abbas Ahsan and Deputy Commissioner Dr Jahangir also toured various polling stations.

Expressing satisfaction over the polling arrangements, they said that the arrangements were better than those during the general elections, noting that closed-circuit cameras (CCTVs) had been installed at all sensitive polling stations. Moreover, internal control of the sensitive polling stations was with the army while a large contingent of police was deployed at the gate of the polling station.

Personnel of the paramilitary Rangers continuously patrolled the area while parties were not allowed to install their polling camps within 200 meters of the polling stations. Furthermore, voters were not allowed to visit polling stations without identity cards. Those with expired identity cards, however, were allowed to vote.

Even media personnel were not allowed to enter polling stations with mobile phones while in many polling stations, cameramen of news crews were also barred from entering.

However, later in the afternoon, this permission was given.

In a majority of the polling stations, the polling agents of the PML-N, PTI or the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) were not present while polling camps of independent candidates were also empty.

Meanwhile, senior PML-N leader Senator Chaudhry Tanveer said that voters were facing difficulties because the polling stations were set up too far from their residences owing to a shifting of votes during delimitations.

Votes of one area have been shifted to another, he complained, adding that residents of Jhanday Chechi had to make their way to Sir Syed School.

He further said that there was some minor mismanagement.

Scant activity in Pindi

Due to it being a holiday and owing to strict security measures, business, trading and social activities across Rawalpindi were paralyzed.

Some of the larger markets of the city were open but registered little trading activity with shopkeepers sitting idle all day.

Even the public transport was almost non-existent since a majority of the voters lounged at home, camped in front of television sets to enjoy the developments after casting their vote.

Moreover, most of Suzuki pick-ups which are usually rented over the weekends had been rented by the district administration for use by polling officers due to which few Suzuki vehicles could be seen plying on the roads. Given the situation, taxi and rickshaw drivers enjoyed the day charging exorbitant fares.

While markets did little business, food and drink establishments did a roaring business across the city.

Heavy protocol in Islamabad

In the federal capital, polling was mostly peaceful.

PM Imran, who has often been pained by a heavy deployment of security forces for VIPs, saw a heavy security contingent deployed as he ventured outside his sprawling Bani Gala mansion to cast his vote in Mohara Noor.

In view of the premier’s arrival at the polling station created in the Azhar Naseer Shaheed Model School, a heavy contingent of security personnel had been dispatched to the school three hours in advance.

Moreover, the route Imran took from his residence to the polling station was also heavily guarded.

A contingent of police was deployed on the rooftops of the polling station and nearby buildings. Police officials and police cars laced with cameras kept patrolling the area around the polling station while fire brigade and rescue vehicles were stationed outside the polling station.

Even though the police officials had been posted outside the polling station since 10am, a white Shalwar Kameez clad Imran did not arrive until 10 minutes to 1. As he went into the media were told to stay away citing strict orders from the premier.

After casting his vote, Imran quickly left.

As the PM exited, he followed by both the PML-N and PTI workers raising slogans against each other.

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