• Islamabad voters, candidates hope for higher turnout today
• Rawalpindi presiding officers complain about tardy returning officers

ISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI: Residents and candidates of all mainstream political parties are expecting a good turnout for elections on three seats of the National Assembly in the federal capital on Thursday (today), whereas three National Assembly constituencies in Rawalpindi will likely witness a neck-and-neck contest between the PML-N and embattled PTI.

Initially, the voters in the federal capital had kept themselves away from electioneering but election campaigns got momentum last week, attracting more and more people.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) statistics, the number of registered voters in Islamabad is over 1.083 million.

Among the registered voters of Islamabad, the number of male voters is above 500,000 which is 52.48pc of the total voters. Similarly, the percentage of women voters is 47.52pc.

Candidates of mainstream political parties, when contacted by Dawn, claimed that their voters will come out to cast votes in big numbers; thus the turnout on election day will be higher compared to the last two general elections (2013 and 2018). The turnout of both previous elections in the federal capital also remained over 50pc.

In 2013 polls turnout in elections on two seats of the NA had remained 59.64pc (NA-48) and 64.56pc (NA-47). In the 2018 election when another seat of the NA was included in the federal capital, the turnout also remained good. In NA-52 (NA-48 now) the turnout had remained at 64.26pc, NA-53 (NA-47) remained at 56.53pc and NA-54 (NA-46) was 54.24pc.

Mian Mohammad Aslam, a candidate of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) from NA-46, said he was expecting a higher turnout today than the previous two elections.

“This time people especially youth seemed to be more eager to cast their votes,” he added. The JI leader said his supporters had vowed to come out in large numbers for him.

PTI nominee Shoaib Shaheen, who is contesting in an independent capacity from NA-47, said he was also expecting a big turnout in the Feb 8 polls in the capital.

“I believe my supporters will come out because we have to respond to tyranny with the vote,” he added. He said he would pay more attention to rural areas of Islamabad if he won the seat as these areas had been neglected for many decades.

Syed Sibtul Haidar, a candidate of PPP from NA-47, also expects a better turnout in this election, especially in the rural areas.

“This time voters from rural areas will come out in a big number,” he said.

He also claimed that he would focus on CDA issues like katchi abadis, land compensations to the landowners, model education centres etc.

According to Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, an independent candidate contesting from two constituencies NA-47 and NA-48, a high turnout was expected on Thursday (today). He said people were fed up with old faces and price hike, and will express their anger and reaction by casting their votes in his favour.

Rawalpindi

The stage is all set for the general election in Rawalpindi and 33,07,083 voters in the district, including 16,03,572 women, will use their right to elect their representatives in national and provincial assemblies.

As many as 2,544 polling stations have been established in all the union councils of the district. More than 24,000 government officials from 84 government departments will perform duties in the elections in six national and 13 provincial assembly constituencies.

Like 2018 election, the three National assembly constituencies in the garrison city will see a neck-and-neck contest between the PML-N and the PTI. It was a stronghold of PML-N till 2013 and in 2018, it was the stronghold of PTI.

The point in favour of PML-N is that the absence of PTI heavyweights and development work done by the previous PML-N-led federal government. The PTI, however, is riding the sympathy wave claiming that their leader was in jail and the party was in an election without any poll symbol. Though the PPP candidates are also in the fray, the presence of some candidates is visible.

The voting and counting process will be held at a total of 2,777 polling stations.

A day before polls, the presiding officers had complained about improper arrangements made by the ECP and the district administration. They said the distribution of polling equipment began late.

Musarrat Abbas, a presiding officer who is a teacher at a government school, told Dawn she arrived at Liaquat Bagh at noon to get the polling equipment for her polling station located in Satellite Town but she was handed over the ballot papers and other stuff at 2:00pm. “It was hard for me to stay in cold weather,” she said.

Mohammad Waris, a male teacher, who was deputed as assistant presiding officer in a school on Murree Road, also expressed concerns over the poor performance of the ECP and the administration.

He said the ECP should take notice of the negligence and slow pace of work of ROs. Many other assistant presiding officers showed their concerns over the slow process of distribution of polling equipment.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2024