Presiding officer absent, phone switched off in Karachi's NA-250 station

HYDERABAD/KARACHI: Voting has still not started at NA-250 polling station 122 located at Bayview Junior School at 2:50pm.

Frustrated citizens who have been standing in long queues say that no staff is at the premises. “We don’t know what is happening,” said one young woman. “People have tried to contact the presiding officer, but apparently his phone has been switched off.”

People present say that the police and rangers have come and “checked out” the situation but polling has not begun.

In the next station, NA 250 123, voting is underway but eyewitnesses alleged that MQM workers tried to “stop the election process”, claiming that “voting was not being conducted properly”. “When they came to stop the voting, us citizens held hands and started chanting ‘Let us vote! Let us vote!’. Thankfully, they went away and voting is underway.”