Lahore/Karachi/Islamabad: Several candidates and voters from across the country complained about the slow pace of polling, holding the staff designated by the Election Commission of Pakistan responsible for it.
Speaking to the media, several candidates complained about apparent lack of training of the polling staff. They said that voting had gotten delayed in many polling stations because of the slow pace of the polling staff. In Muzaffargarh, Hina Rabbani Khar complained that her polling agents were not being allowed to enter polling stations. She said that the polling arrangements were unsatisfactory, as others also noted that the presiding officers and polling staff was not fully trained to carry out the exercise in accordance with the ECP rules. Sikandar Hayat Bosan and Amir Dogar said that the polling process remained very slow in several areas ‘because of the incompetence of the polling staff’.
PML-N candidate in PP-214, Asif Rajwana, son of former Punjab governor Rafique Rajwana, complained that the polling process remained slow because of the alleged incompetence of polling staff. He also exchanged heated words with a few voters during his visit to the polling station. Another PML-N candidate Shahzad Maqbool Bhutta complained that information of many of his voters was missing in the ECP rolls, and they remained unable to cast ballots. Veteran politician Javed Hashmi also complained about lack of training of the ECP staff to handle the mammoth task.
In a letter written to the ECP, PML-N Central Media Committee chairman Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed requested an hour’s extension in polling time, but his request was turned down. He said the polling staff allowed only three to four voters to go inside the polling station at a time, despite the fact that people were standing outside the polling stations in hot and humid weather. He termed the cumbersome process in the polling stations a factor behind long queues.
In Lahore, long queues were witnessed at polling stations as the polling time ended at 6pm. While those inside the polling stations were allowed to cast ballots, a large number reportedly remained unable to make their way in time due to the huge crowd gathered at the scene. Although polling continued from 8am in the morning till 6pm without any break, but apparently slow pace of the process meant that many voters had to wait for long hours.
Naeem Ali, a voter standing in a long queue at a polling station near Macload Road in NA-124, said that the slow pace of polling needed to be highlighted in the media, adding that the polling time should have been increased by at least an hour.
Reports were received from multiple stations about voters complaining about the ‘cumbersome polling process’ and new procedures enforced by security personnel. They said that despite the hot and humid weather, army personnel refused to let them inside the building. An army official deputed in a polling station in NA124, who identified himself as Mehboob, told Daily Times that that they were allowing voters in small numbers only to prevent inconvenience to them as well the polling staff.
In NA-179, Rahim Yar Khan, several people complained that only those carrying slips issued from the PTI camps were allowed to enter polling stations.
In an incident in NA 161 Lodhran, PML-N’s Siddique Khan Baloch was fined Rs50,000 Deputy Commissioner Saqib Ali for allegedly threatening a security personnel. Baloch denied having issued any threat and explained to the media that he was suffering from high fever and that was why his tone was a little harsh.
Published in Daily Times, July 26th 2018.
