One person was killed and four others received injuries in the first phase of local government elections in Gujranwala city district here on Thursday, while due to rigging elections in two union councils were cancelled.
However, polling in the Sialkot district was held in a peaceful manner with reports of some minor incidents of scuffles. Most of the opposition-backed candidates, however, alleged that the government was rigging the polls to ensure success of their candidates. A team of Lahore-based newsmen visited various polling stations in Sialkot and Gujranwala city districts.
Gujranwala District Returning Officer Mazhar Hussain Minhas confirmed that elections in Khiali Shahpur Union Council has been cancelled after firing incident in which a youth was killed, while in Nowshera, ballot boxes from seven polling stations of Virkan Town were stolen and, thus, elections had to be called void.
The chief election commissioner would announce next dates of election in these areas. He said that they were expecting troubles during the election process and necessary arrangements were made to maintain law and order. However, the incidents of violence were less than their expectations, he added.
In Gujranwala city district having four million population, polling took place in 188 union councils in which 6,093 candidates took part, of which 210 had already been elected unopposed. The total voters registered in the district were 1,687,101 and 1,614 polling stations were set up.
Although, the polling stations were opened to public at 8:00 am, but due to heavy rain, the balloting did not commence till around 11:00 am, which according to the presiding officers of various polling stations, was the main cause of low turnout.
At Aroob Town (Union Council 46) out of the total 1,100 female voters in three polling stations only 283 votes were cast during the entire day. The presiding officers told newsmen that the rain factor was the main cause for the low turnout.
At the closing time of polling at Iqbal High School on G.T. Road, a clash took place between the supporters of the PPPP-backed and government-backed candidates, on which the police rushed to the scene and arrested the father of a Naib Nazim candidate Umer Farooq, backed by PPPP and supporters of both the groups.
It was also learnt that during exchange of hot words at Qila Deedar Singh Town (Union Council 129) the camps tangled into a dispute, which led to firing and a nephew of a Naib Nazim candidate was received injuries. Injuries to three people were also reported outside the polling stations in Wazirabad and Kamoke.
Meanwhile, in Sialkot district, polling was delayed due to rain, and the voters had to face extreme conditions to cast their votes. The newsmen also witnessed poor turnout of voters till lunch, but the presiding officers of various polling stations were expecting a large influx of voters in the afternoon.
The Sialkot district having 2.7 million population has 124 union councils with 5,084 contesting candidates, of which 79 were already elected unopposed. The total votes registered in the district were 1.4 million and 1,318 polling stations were set up.
The rain-hit union councils witnessed slow vote cast. At Ranjahi (Union Council 66), the polling station was set up in a government school, which was muddy and the path to the room were slippery. Till 11.00 am, only 100 votes were cast out of the total 1,280.
At Daska Model Town (Union Council 85) female polling station, the opposition-backed candidates levelled allegations of rigging and many women complained of government-backed male candidates campaigning in the polling stations. They also alleged that the polling staff was putting stamps on the ballot papers in favour of the government-backed candidates, while the voters looked helpless.
The presiding officer dismissed the allegations and said that everything was going smoothly and no rigging took place. She did admit that male candidates roamed in the polling station and the police was called to settle the problem. However, she did complain that she has untrained staff with only matriculation qualification, which was causing problems in the polling process. At Hajipur (Union Council 87/3) the situation was no different as similar reports were surfaced there as well.
In Sialkot city, big banners and hoarding of candidates were displayed, which was in violation of the Election Commission Code of Conduct, even posters on the outer walls of the Sialkot District and Sessions Court was also witnessed. This was pointed out to Sialkot District Returning Officer Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam, who in reply said that 80 cases have been registered against the violators.
He also said that no protocol was granted to ministers or parliamentarians. "No major law and order situation arose during the polling process, although minor incidents were reported, and I am satisfied with the conduct of elections," he added.
According to him, he has received rigging complaints from various polling stations and he personally visited them. Wherever irregularities were found, the police was instructed to take action under the law. For security reasons, 6,208 policemen were deployed, while 811 army men were also on his disposal. The army was regularly patrolling the district to maintain law and order, and only eight times the services of the army were used to control situation at the polling stations.
In both Gujranwala city and Sialkot districts, many voters found that their names were not there in the voters lists. It was learnt that the supporters of various candidates had voters lists based on General Election 2002, which was not used in this election, as it was decided by the Election Commission to use voters lists that were used in local bodies election 2001, but updated in 2005.
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