Islamabad: Polling was underway on Thursday for the second phase of local government (LG) elections in 26 districts of Sindh and Punjab provinces. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had announced the previous day that polling had been postponed in 81 union councils of Sindh and nine in Punjab.
Polling began at 7:30am and is expected to continue uninterrupted until 5:30pm. Over 20 million voters are expected to exercise their right to franchise in 26 districts of Sindh and Punjab in the second phase of the LG elections.
In Punjab, polling was being held in 12 districts: Sargodha, Gujranwala, Sahiwal, Attock, Jhelum, Mianwali, Chiniot, Toba Tek Singh, Hafizabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Sheikhupura and Khanewal.
In Sindh, polling was underway in 14 districts including Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Dadu, Jamshoro, Badin, Thatta, Sajawal, Shaheed Benazirabad, Noshero Feroz, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot and Tharparkar. Polling in Sanghar was postponed due to security reasons.
The ECP has established a control room for the elections, for which eight teams have been constituted for receiving complaints. The returning officers have been directed to send preliminary results through e-mail to the provincial election commissioners of Punjab and Sindh.
Polling postponed in 81 UCs
ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob told media on Wednesday that the elections in 81 union councils had been postponed as per the directives of the Supreme Court.
He said that the ECP had finalised all the administrative and security measures to ensure a fair polling process. He said that the elections had been postponed in five municipal committees, 18 town committees and 58 union councils of different cities of Sindh.
He said that the decision to delay the elections was taken in an ECP meeting held under the chairmanship of the chief election commissioner. These constituencies included 24 UCs of the Hyderabad Division, 25 UCs of Mirpurkhas and 32 UCs of Benazirabad. He said that the elections in these union councils and municipal committees would be held after the third phase.
Read : Election campaign ended for 2nd phase of LB polls in Punjab, Sindh
