Counting votes began after the second phase of local government (LG) elections was completed peacefully at 5 pm in Sindh, including Karachi and Hyderabad divisions.
As hundreds of thousands of people went to vote to pick their local representatives, various political parties grumbled and urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to extend polling time because some stations started late.
The election commission did not extend the polling, which began at 8 am and finished at 5 pm.
“Voters present inside polling stations at the closing time are allowed to cast their votes,” stated Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja.
However, at some polling places, officials permitted polling to continue for two more hours due to delays caused by polling agents arriving late and unavailable polling supplies.
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi Emir Hafiz Naeem Ur Rehman thanked law enforcement for maintaining peace during the polls.
After voting, Rehman stated that some camps were burnt, but voters were still arriving at their polling centres.