Polling in twin cities ends peacefully amid tight security

RAWALPINDI/ ISLAMABAD  –  Polling in Rawalpindi and Islam­abad ended peacefully here on Thursday. The bosses of Rawal­pindi and Islamabad police in­cluding Syed Khalid Mehmood Hamdani and Dr Akbar Nasir Khan had made tight security ar­rangements for a smooth polling process in the both districts by deploying 9500 and 6000 well equipped jawans of police force. Troops of Pakistan Army and Rangers also patrolled in some sensitive areas to maintain law and order. Due to comprehen­sive security arrangements, no untoward incident was reported in any polling station of Rawal­pindi and Islamabad. In the twin cities, the youth and women turn out was massive as they voted to candidates of their choice. 

As many as 213 transgender persons also cast their votes in Rawalpindi. During the whole day, the candidates of PML-N, PTI (though they are contesting gen­eral elections as independent can­didates), PPP, TLP, IPP and other parties kept visiting the polling stations of their constituencies to boost up the moral of voters. The polling staff of all the political parties set up camp outside the polling stations to guide the vot­ers. According to a survey, all can­didates of political parties failed in providing transport to voters which caused immense trouble for them as most of the voters either reached polling stations by foot or in their own cars and vehicles. In Rawalpindi, a total of 2671 poll­ing stations (989 for male, 964 for ladies, and 781 common) were set up for elections of 7 constituencies of National Assembly and 14 seats of Provincial Assembly. A total of 609 candidates of different politi­cal parties contested general elec­tions in Rawalpindi district. Out of 609, 188 contested general elec­tions for National Assembly and 421 faced each other in Provin­cial Assembly. The LEAs have de­clared 172 sensitive while rangers were deployed at 56 polling sta­tions of A catagory. In Rawalpindi, 3602198 men and women exer­cised the right of vote to elect their representatives. A thorny contest in NA-56 was Babu Sheharyar Riaz (PTI backed candidate), Mu­hammad Hanif Abbasi of PML-N Sumaira Gull and Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed. In NA-52, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf faced his rivals Raja Javed Ikhlas and Tariq Aziz. Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Col (R) Ajmal Sabir, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Seemabia Tahir flexed their muscles agaisnt each other in NA-54. In Islamabad, the polling process also ended in a peaceful manner with Inspec­tor General of Police Islamabad Dr Akbar Nasir Khan thanking all the LEAs, district administration, Rangers, Pakistan Army and Rang­ers for holding general elections in a peaceful manner. He also appre­ciated the police jawans for per­forming security duty with dedica­tion and commitment.