— Allies, opposition cry foul as PPP wins big in first phase
— Violence claims two lives, leaves many injured in LG polls held in 14 districts
KARACHI: The voting process ended for the first phase of the local government elections in 14 districts from four divisions of Sindh and vote count was underway on Sunday amid reports of violence and clashes in several districts.
‘The first phase of local government elections remained quite appalling as reports of violence, firing, kidnapping of polling staff, attack on polling stations and disruption in election process are keep pouring in, again taking the vote to a point where its credibility could be questioned.
Some incidents of violence, clashes, and attacks on polling officials were also reported in different areas of the province. The situation became tense when a group of armed people attacked the social security polling station in Nawabshah and held the polling staff hostage,
according to the presiding officer. Later, they fled the polling station along with the election material, he added.
Regional Election Commissioner Naveed Aziz informed in writing to the concerned SSP about the incident.  Meanwhile, some armed people kidnapped the poll staff from polling station Tori in UC Daddr in Kandhkot. The armed men opened fire and snatched election staff including presiding officer. They also took away ballot boxes with them.
A video footage of the incident available in which it could be seen that armed men were kidnapping the staff. The administration called in a heavy contingent of police and Rangers. But so far, the election staff could not recovered.
There was a sense of fear in the atmosphere of Tori polling station. According to reports, the polling staff was allegedly kidnapped by Bhio gang. The polling process has not started yet.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) postponed elections in some areas including Ghotki district’s Mirpur Mathelo after wrong names of candidates were printed on ballot papers.
Polling for the first phase of local government elections in Sindh started at 8am and will continue till 5pm without any break in 14 districts of the province including Sukkur, Shaheed Benazirabad, Larkana, Mirpur Khas, Umarkot, Tharparkar, Sanghar, Naushehro Feroze, Kanbar-ShahdadKot, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kahmor, Ghoki and Khairpur.
But as soon as the balloting started, reports of violence also started trickling. Assailants make polling staff hostage, run away with election material. Some unknown assailants attacked three polling stations in Nawabshah and made the polling staff hostage over there.
After making the election staff hostage, the unknown attackers made off with ballot papers, ballot boxes, stamps and other election material. The balloting could not be started as yet in Ghulam Murtaza Bhutto, Nawaz Ali and Social Security polling stations in Union 8 in Nawabshah.
On the other hand, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf activists alleged that the attack was launched because the ECP rejected the form of PPP chairman. In another incident, the PTI workers violated the election code when they used their mobile phones inside a polling station in Nawabshah.
They took photos of ballot papers and uploaded them on social media. Candidates requested the ECP to take notice of this violation. Besides this, health workers kept on harassing women voters at Ward 9 polling station in Umarkot asking them to cast votes in favor of their candidate.
The activists of Tehreek-i-Labbaik (TLP) disrupted polling in UC 6 Ward No 1, Nadir Shah dispensary in Nawabshah while raising objection on allotting wrong election symbol during the polls. They objected to the allotment of another election symbol i.e. Queen to the TLP chairman and vice chairmanship contenders other than TLP’s official election symbol of ‘Crane’.
The TLP supporters after halting election process, raised slogans against the ECP for allotting wrong symbol. According to reports, a clash broke out between the activists of Pakistan Peoples Party and Jamiat Ulma-e-Islam during the polling in Ward No 10 of Kandkot.
Supporters of both the parties beat their opponents with clubs. Several people got injured during the fight and the election staff halted the balloting.
In another incident, people in village Rasool Bakhsh in Tangwai’s broke open the gate of polling station No 8 and entered the booth. Police tried to stop them but they failed. The polling process was halted in polling station of Farid Mehr in Sukkur following a scuffle between two rival groups.
An activist of the JUI was injured in the fight and was shifted to a local hospital. The JUI leader Muhammad Saleh accused the SHO of the area of violence, adding that people who came from outside, they attacked our workers.
Polling halted at two polling stations in Qambar Shahdadkot. The election commission stopped polling at two polling stations in Qambar Shahdadkot following reports of mismanagement and theft of election material.
The balloting was halted in Naseerabad’s UC Damrah 46 and City Ward 12 when the ECP received reports of theft of voters’ lists and wrong election symbol allotment to the candidates, respectively. The residents of UC Damrah 46 protested against the theft of voters’ lists.
A large number of police contingent reached the polling stations to avert any untoward incident. Thirteen people got injured in a firing incident in Abal Garhi polling station in UC Dangro, Ghotki. The balloting was halted after a scuffle broke out between the supporters of PPP and GDA in the polling station. The incensed PPP workers broke windows of the car of GDA contestant.
The injured were shifted to a local hospital for medical treatment. However, a large force of police reached the place and controlled the situation. Later, the balloting was resumed.
Meanwhile, 10 people including two contestants were injured in a fight in Thal. Reportedly, supporters of PPP and JUI were indulged in a clash in a polling station in Thal. They used batons and clubs to beat each other up. As many as 10 people including PPP contender Attaullah and JUI contestant Wali Muhammad got hurt.
The polling station was shut down after the clash and police contingent was called in.
As many as 9,290 polling stations have been set up in 14 districts. The total number of registered voters is over 11.4 million and the election commission has printed 2,950,000 ballot papers for the first phase of the LG polls.
Strict security arrangements have been made in order to maintain law and order. Government has deployed over 40,000 policemen across polling stations in the province while Sindh Rangers are also on standby.
Pakistan Army officials have also been deployed at sensitive areas including Shikarpur, Garhi Yaseen and Town Chuk. Carrying any kind of weapons is also prohibited under Section 144. In many districts, candidates have been elected unopposed. On the whole, peaceful balloting is going on in Khairpur, Tharparkur, Thal, and Shikarpur.
A number of journalists were beaten by election candidates and their supporters in Kot Diji for filming the disturbances at a polling station. The policemen present on the occasion acted as mere spectators as cameras and mobile phone of the journalists were snatched at Gul Muhammad Soomro Polling Station.
A journalist fainted and fell on the ground due to the torture. A brawl broke out between supporters of PPP and PTI at Bachho Bhoot polling station in UC Kloi, Thrparkar.
The supporters of PTI and former Sindh chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim’s son Arbab Anayatullah fought with each in front of police. Due to their scuffle, the voters got scared and ran away. According to reports, several activists including Arbab Anayat got injured during the fight.
Separately, a man killed and some were left injured in separate incidents of violence during the local bodies polls on Sunday. A man was shot dead and three were injured during a clash between JUI and PPP workers in Sukkur.
The two parties were clashing over election proceedings at a polling station in Rohri.
Police were called to diffuse tension as the face-off between PPP and PTI workers continues at Saleh Pat polling station in Sukkur.
According to officials, polling was stopped in ward 1 while PTI candidate protested the illegal appointment of a male officer in the female booth of ward 4.
It is mention over here that 647 polling stations were installed for 87,508 voters. Security have been tightened with deployment of 2,438 policemen, 11 companies of the Pak Army on standby and 1,509 Rangers were also deployed.
Meanwhile, Voter counts are going down in Rohri, which has 12 wards, due to very hot weather . The temperature is 47°C and it feels like 51°C.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Sunday conducted the first phase of the local government elections in 14 districts of Sindh and also a bye-election in Swat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
According to the ECP spokesperson, the commission had made adequate arrangements to hold these elections in a free, fair, and transparent manner.
A total of 9,023 polling stations were established including 1,910 male, 1,895 female, 5,218 joint, and 224 improvised polling stations for 11304860 registered voters in 14 districts.
He said that foolproof security arrangements were made while Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja personally monitored the election process.
Similarly, special instructions were issued by the CEC to district monitoring officers and monitoring teams to remain vigilant while security agencies were directed to maintain peace during the election process, he added.
The 14 districts of Sindh where LG polls were held included Larkana, Kambar-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kashmore, Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Naushahro Feroze, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Umarkot, and Tharparkar.
JUI-F, MQM cry foul against organised riggingÂ
MQM and JUI-F have said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) failed in discharging its duties of holding peaceful elections in the first phase of LG polls in Sindh.
JUI-F Sindh secretary general Rashid Mehmood Soomro in his reaction to the
first phase of LG polls in Sindh, said the process of election was full of
riots and alleged rigging.
The ECP failed in discharging its duties, he said and added that JUI-F
polling agents in Jacobabad, Pano Aqil and Kandhkot were abducted.
