Polling for by-election on National Assembly constituency NA-4, Peshawar-IV, was remained peaceful largely. The army men and police deployed for maintaining law and order during polling for by-election on NA-4 held here on Thursday strictly monitored the polling process in an apparent bid to quell any chances of rigging and make its results acceptable to all.
Polling was scheduled to begin at 8am but commenced at some polling stations with delay, wherein voters were seen lining up around 7:30 am. Voter turnout appeared to be strong in the urban areas of the constituency while fewer voters were casting their votes in rural parts. To prevent any untoward incident on the occasion, a total of 5,000 policemen and 1,700 army personnel had deployed to avoid any untoward incident taking place during the polling.
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. The supporters of candidates have set up private polling booths outside polling stations for education of young voters. Clashes between workers of rival political parties were also reported at some polling stations in the constituency.
A worker of the Pakistan Peoples Party displayed a weapon at a polling station as voting was underway in the Peshawar-based NA-4 constituency. This blatant violation of the law happened in UC-26 of Peshawar. Three people were arrested from different parts of the constituency by noon as two pistols and a rifle were recovered from them, police said. Locals of Union Council-56 in NA-4 boycotted the elections for negligence of the area by the representatives. More than 11,000 votes are registered in the area.
Electronic voting machines (EVMs), were used first time in the history of the country in more than 100 polling booths alongside the manual voting process on experiential basis in NA-4 by-poll. Big queues of voters' majority of whom are young voters besides female voters are being seen in polling stations by exercising right of franchise in free, transparent and peaceful atmosphere. The young voters in large number reached to polling stations at 7:30am and patiently waited for their turn to cast their votes in favour of their candidates.
"We came here along with my friends and relatives to cast votes and play a role in strengthening of democratic process in the country," Khan and Ali, young voters at Badabir polling station said. While speaking to this scribe, Zahoor Afridi who set up a camp, having black ribbons on their hands, said that no developmental works have been carried out by the government so the locals have decided not to cast their votes.
Officials have told the media that there was a "high turn-out" of voters in Mattani area, a hub for ANP, PML-N and PTI. Pillion riding and use of mobile phones are banned inside all polling stations. Election Commission has set up a total of 269 polling stations for more than 352,445 registered voters in the constituency out of which 207,943 are male and 144,502 are female voters who exercise their right of vote.
According to the ECP, 14 candidates representing both major and minor political parties are in the run for the same seat. The ECP said it had also appointed 269 presiding officers. 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 Election Commission of Pakistan, more than 0.3 million votes are registered in the constituency. However, voter turn-out is quite low as the employees of federal government institutions are on duties. The K-P government has announced holiday in NA-4 areas but federal government employees are duty. Talking to media persons, SSP Operations Sajid Khan says four people were arrested from Bhana Mari area for displaying firearms.
Provincial Information Minister Shah Farman said that no untoward incident was taken place in the constituency. A policeman caught red handed casting vote for someone else in Badbher, according to ANP candidate Khushdil Khan.
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