Take two: By-polls conclude with little enthusiasm

KARACHI: Polling activity largely remained lacklustre in the two constituencies up for grabs in Karachi - NA-247 and PS-111 - on Sunday with voter turnout picking up only in the second half of the day. The frenzy and excitement of the general elections could be seen in clusters only at a few polling stations but remained amiss from most.

The polling started promptly at 8am and continued till 5pm. No untoward incident was reported from either constituency throughout the day. In fact, most polling stations remained vacant in the first half of the day despite attempts by party workers to garner election enthusiasm. Activity picked up at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) camps in the latter half of the day with a higher number of female voters. The two parties dominated voter fervour.

NA-247

PTI-nominated billionaire businessman and real estate developer, Aftab Hussain Siddiqui, was in competition with MQM-P’s Sadiq Iftikhar in this constituency. The two parties are coalition partners in the federal government and dominated most of the voter turnout. Others in the fray included the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Qaiser Nizamani, a showbiz celebrity, Pakistan Sunni Tehreek’s (PST) Ali Nawab and Pak Sarzameen Party’s (PSP) Arshad Vohra.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), there were 240 polling stations in this constituency and around 546,451 voters, including 295,567 males and 250,884 females, were registered to cast votes. The seat was vacated by PTI’s Dr Arif Alvi, who has now become the President of Pakistan.

NA-247 was created after amalgamating former NA-249, which included old city areas like Kharadar, and NA-250, which included Defence Housing Authority (DHA), Clifton, Burnes Road, seats in the fresh delimitation of the constituencies. The constituency now has a major chunk of DHA, Clifton, Civil Lines, Saddar, Burns Road and some of the old city areas. It is one of the two constituencies in Karachi’s District South.

Polling activities

The polling started exactly at 8am but the polling camps situated in different areas remained deserted until 9am, when a few voters started to show up. The situation changed in Bizerta Lines area at around 11am, when mostly female voters started coming out of their homes to vote.

A female worker of the MQM-P, Sana, present at a polling camp in Lines Area, told The Express Tribune that around 4,000 voters visited their camp from 9am till 4:45pm. “Lines Area is our stronghold and we know how to mobilise our voters,” she said.

PTI had established three male and two female polling camps in the Lines Area. “There’s a tough competition in Lines Area between MQM-P and PTI,” said a PTI worker at the polling camp adjacent to MQM-P’s. “Both parties are trying their best to mobilise their voters.”

The area was abuzz with election activities. Flags of both the parties had adorned a street behind Aisha Bawany School. Despite serious competition, there wasn’t any law and order situation in the area. At around 5pm, children took out their cycles and did a small march with MQM-P’s party flag in their hands. PSP’s polling camp, on the other hand, appeared to have no voter turnout at all.



In Saddar, the situation was more or less similar. The polling camps of MQM-P and PTI turned into election mode after 1pm, when voters started coming out. The party workers also chanted slogans at each other, but no untoward incident was reported.

In DHA, the turnout remained low the entire day. At around 3pm, Defence Phase IV, Khayaban-e-Bahria, witnessed several cars parked outside DA Model School. PTI’s Nazia Waseem claimed to have facilitated 1,000 voters at her polling camp. While MQM-P’s and PSP’s polling camps seemed to be deserted. “Defence is our area and surprisingly, the women voters are coming out to vote,” she said.

Inside the polling station at the DA Model High School, MQM-P’s polling agent, Shaheena, said that the voter rush increased after 1pm. “The turnout is still extremely low and just a few hours [are] left for voting to end,” she said.

The voters

An aged female voter, Tahira, a resident of Defense Phase IV, came to cast her vote on a wheelchair with her son. She showed her thumb to other voters outside and smiled pleasantly. “The change has come and it will remain,” she said and added that no matter what propaganda opponents do, she will support [positive change.

Another aged woman, Neelofer Nawaz, had difficulty walking but was adamant on casting her vote. “Imran Khan is taking the mission of Quaid-e-Azam forward. It is out of my love for his party that I came out and voted,” she said.

In Lines Area too several female voters were present in support of PTI but MQM-P had its proponents as well. Aslam Tahir, who brought his mother and wife to a polling station in Aisha Bawany School, said that the traditional voters of MQM-P would come out and vote. “My family is voting for MQM-P and there are several others families I personally know who are voting for the party,” he claimed.

PS-111

The enthusiasm of the voters of this constituency, which produced the president and governor, remained low in the by-polls as the turnout ratio at all the polling stations remained between 15% to 20%.  The turnout in katchi abadis remained comparatively higher than Clifton and DHA areas with up to 25% voter turnout.

PTI candidate Shahzad Qureshi, who is also the information secretary for the party’s Karachi division, appeared popular in PS-111 after carrying out an aggressive campaign. MQM-P’s Dr Jahanzeb Mughal, PPP’s Fayyaz Pirdaza and independent candidate and civil rights activist Jibran Nasir also took part in the by-polls. PTI’s Imran Ismail had vacated his seat in PS-111 to become the Sindh governor when the prime minister nominated him.

On Sunday, 178,965 voters, including 94,719 males and 84,246 females, were registered to cast their votes in the 80 polling stations set up across the constituency.

The President and Sindh governor also voted in this constituency from where they had won their seats in the general elections.

One of the voters, Abdul Rehman Siddiqui, who came to cast his vote with his father, said that lack of hype for the by-polls is the reason of the low turnout. “However, it’s an alarming situation as people don’t know the difference their vote can make,” he added.

Another voter, Seema Saleem Ghazi, who had come to vote with her husband in one of the 80 polling stations set up in DHA, said, “All I can see is silence and peace in polling booths, which shows the lack of interest of the voters.”

Presiding Officer Sabeih Rehman, and a focal person of four polling stations set up in Degree College for Women in Phase VIII, DHA, said that only around 1,600 votes were cast out of nearly 9,100 registered voters.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2018.