LAHORE-KARACHI: Ruling political parties, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), of bigger cities took dominated into their strongholds, Lahore and Karachi respectively, during third and last phase of local government (LG) election held on Saturday after emergence of unofficial results.
Unofficial results showed that PML-N grabbed 489 seats in Punjab province followed by independent candidates with 488 seats while rival PTI won 186 seats.
In Karachi, MQM grabbed victory on 116 chairman seats to get major lead in the LG polls which was followed by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) with 32 seats.
Political coalition of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) managed to win 16 chairman seats. JI candidates won 10 chairman seats while PTI got 6 seats while vote counting is still underway.
Overall polling process was peaceful except few violent cases when political rivals clashes inside and around the polling stations. However, citizens witnessed uninterrupted polling process in the election except places where clashes were occurred between rival political parties.
In Sindh province, the districts include Karachi East, Karachi West, Karachi South, Karachi Central, Karachi’s Malir and Korangi while in Punjab, polling organised in Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Dera Ghazi Khan, Layyah, Khushad, Jhang, Rahim Yar Khan, Multan, Narawal, Rajanpur, Muzafargarh and Bahawalpur.
At least 10 cases were filed after arresting 27 persons over alleged irregularities during election in both provinces. Moreover, Rangers arrested three accused persons including a fake Presiding Officer (PO) during raid in a polling station at Nishtar Park of Karachi. Rangers’ spokesperson said that 14 accused persons were sent behind bars over involvement in irregularities amid polling process.
In the first hour, voting could not be started in almost 70 per cent of polling stations in Karachi. Delay in polling has also been reported in Multan and Jhang.
Almost all the polling stations in the six districts of Karachi have been declared ‘sensitive’ for security reasons, with only 234 of the 4,141 stations categorised as normal.
