NA-55, NA-56: turnout of female voters higher

The turnout of female voters remained relatively higher as compared to male in the two constituencies of Rawalpindi NA-55 and NA-56 where Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Muslim League Chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed contested against Pakistan Muslim League (N) Hanif Abbasi and Shakeel Awan.
A large number of women voters thronged to polling stations in both the constituencies early in the morning and kept coming throughout the day. A total of 250 polling stations were set up to cater 3240422 voters of which 177,951were male and 146,071 were female voters. Similarly 225 polling stations were set up in NA-56 Rawalpindi for 288,423 voters which included 154,466 male and 133,957 female voters.
It is interesting to note that youth and women took keen interest in polling and kept standing in queues in a large number to cast their votes in this historic election. The huge crowd at the polling stations was described by an aged man sitting at a polling station to cast his vote as the era of 1971 when PPP's late chairman Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto stunned the political stalwarts.
"I can foresee the turnout of the 1971 when people from all walks of life turned towards the polling stations and brought Bhutto to the office of the prime minister", said Mohammad Kaleem Abbasi, a 65-year-old resident of NA-56. Two unfortunate incidents of firing also took place when workers of one political party opened fire at the workers of another rival political party that resulted in injuries of two persons. "Yes, definitely we are feeling absence of PTI chief, as the party workers anxiously wanted to see him in the constituency on the polling day" said Chaudhry Asghar, who is PTI candidate for PP-14. He, however, said that morale of PTI workers is very high and expressed the hope that the PTI chief would win the seat.
The constituency, where a number of candidates of other political parties were in the run prominent from among them Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Raza Ahmad Shah and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Asrar Ahmad Abbasi could not muster sufficient support in the constituency. The camps of the PPP remained almost deserted in both the constituencies. Till the filing of the story PTI and AML were leading in NA-55 and NA-56.