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Dawn.com | Sirajuddin | Arif Hayat | Hassan
Polling for the crucial by-election for Peshawar's National Assembly constituency of NA-4 wrapped up without any major untoward incident on Thursday.
While the main gates of polling stations were closed, those present within the premises would be allowed to cast their ballots.
Many observers consider the by-poll as a litmus test for the popularity of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government in the province.
The seat had fallen vacant after the death of dissident PTI MNA Gulzar Khan on August 28. His son, Asad Gulzar, is now contesting the seat on a PPP ticket while his main opponents are Arbab Amir Ayub of PTI, Khushdil Khan of ANP and Nasir Khan Musazai of PML-N.
According to DawnNews, polling was scheduled to begin at 8am but commenced at some polling stations with delay.
Voter turnout appeared to be strong in the urban areas of the constituency while fewer voters were casting their votes in rural parts, Dawn News reported.
A large number of women headed to polling stations, especially in urban areas. However, they were facing problems in polling at some stations because of lack of polling booths and election staff, according to DawnNews.
Polling was suspended at a women's polling station in Badaber after a fight involving workers and polling agents broke out, reportedly over some men trying to enter the premises. The situation was under control as women police arrived and polling was expected to resume soon, DawnNews reported.
Analysts insist PTI, ANP, PML-N are neck and neck in the contest
Ten people were arrested from different parts of the constituency as arms and ammunition were recovered from them, police said, without providing further details.
Meanwhile, reporters complained that they were not being allowed to enter the polling stations despite possessing media cards issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
According to the ECP, 14 candidates representing both major and minor political parties are in the running for the seat.
Arrangements for by-polls
The election campaign ended at midnight on Tuesday amid hectic efforts from all parties to woo voters, Dawn reported.
On Wednesday, political parties had set up camps in the constituency to facilitate voters, while a large number of media teams reached the city to cover the election, which many take as a test of the ruling PTI’s popularity with the government completing its five-year term in few months.
Political pundits insist the PTI, Awami National Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz are running neck-and-neck with each other.
The PTI had won the NA-4 seat in 2013 by a big margin of 34,722 votes. The party’s candidate Gulzar Khan had received 55,134 votes while the runner-up, Nasir Khan Mosazai of the PML-N, got 20,412. The Jamaat’s Sabir Hussain Awan came third with 16,493 votes.
In a statement issued here, the ECP said it had set up 269 polling stations across the constituency for 397,952 voters, including 235,127 men and 162,825 women, and declared 182 polling stations the most sensitive and 82 sensitive in light of security situation.
It also said electronic voting machines would be used at around 100 polling booths of around 35 polling stations on experimental basis.
Security arrangements
The ECP said it had also appointed 269 presiding officers and put in place results transmission system at each polling station.
It said with the deployment of 5,000 policemen and 1,700 army personnel, strict security arrangements had been made in the constituency.The district administration has announced a public holiday in the constituency for the day.
Also on Wednesday, the ECP director general administration and provincial election commissioner visited polling stations in the area to check preparations for the by-election.
The ECP empowered all presiding officers to exercise the powers of first class magistrate to prevent any untoward incident.
SSP (operations) Sajjad Khan at a meeting held on Wednesday directed police officials to ensure peace on the polling day and said presiding officers and police officers would not use mobile phone in polling stations during voting.
He said special cards would be issued to all police personnel deployed for election duty, while in case of any eventuality, rapid response force personnel would rush to the area.
The deputy commissioner of Peshawar banned the displaying and carrying of weapons, and plying of unregistered and applied-for vehicles in NA-4 for 30 days.
He also banned the use of cellphone on the premises of polling stations in the constituency for a day.
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