PML-N, PTI in neck and neck race in Punjab n PPP leads in Sindh, PTI in KP n Counting of votes underway after day-long peaceful polling & Country most likely to head to a split mandate as Imran-backed independents show initial strong showing n MQMP gains ground.

 

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE/KARACHI/QUETTA/PESHAWER  -  Pakistan headed into a parliament with split mandate as the con­troversially slow vote count poured in partial unofficial results early today (February 9).

The partial results trends showed smaller parties like the Mutta­hida Qaumi Movement Pakistan gaining ground while the independents mostly backed by the Pakistan Tehhrik-e-Insaf staged a surprise by gar­nering big chunk of votes.

The partial results of 12th national general elections, suggested a surprising trend of victo­ry by independent candi­dates contesting mainly with the support of PTI.

Major political par­ties Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), according to the unofficial results, were so far miles away from securing majority to comfortably form the government in centre.

There were com­plaints of delay in the results but the turnout remained comparative­ly healthy. The polling was stopped only on four constituencies due to different reasons.

According to the re­sults declared by most of polling booths, the independents including Shehryar Afridi, Zartaj Gul, Umar Ayub , Ali Amin Gandapur, Sher Afzal Marwat, Salman Akram Raja, Asad Qaiser, Ali Mohammad Khan, Aamir Dogar, Rehana Dar, Shahr Bano Qureshi, Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Shaukat Basra, Jamshed Dasti, Sahibzada Sultan. Mehboob, Sheikh Waqas Akram, Yasmin Rashid, Zameer Ahmed, Ayaz Amir, Iman Tahir were in comfortable position Over ninety thousands polling stations were set up across the country amid foolproof security for around 128 million voters including women.

The mobile services remained suspended throughout the country, despite the commitment to suspend services in some of sensitive constit­uencies. However, the in­terior ministry said mo­bile phone and internet services were suspended across the country owing to security threats. 

Though CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja congratu­lated to the nation for the successful conduct of the election, yet the top election regulatory body was criticized for the delay in announcing the results. Raja extended his ap­preciation to all stakeholders involved in the electoral pro­cess, including federal and provincial caretaker govern­ments, political parties, secu­rity agencies, police, civil ad­ministration, Pakistan Army, media, voters, polling staff and election members and their staff. Pakistan Army has also extended heartfelt congratulations to the na­tion on peaceful and violence free general elections in the country. In a statement, ISPR said the armed forces along­side other Law Enforcement Agencies are proud to have played a pivotal role in pro­viding security during con­duct of the electoral process, in aid of civil power and in ac­cordance with the constitu­tion of Pakistan.

It said with the deployment of 137,000 army personnel and civil armed forces at ap­proximately 6,000 selected most sensitive polling sta­tions and over 7800 QRFs, a safe and secure environment for the public was ensured. Despite 51 cowardly terrorist attacks, mostly in KP and Ba­lochistan, aimed at disrupt­ing the electoral process, the soldiers remained resolute and effectively ensured peace and security across Pakistan.

Three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of the PML-N cast his vote in his constituency. Talking to the media after casting his vote, he said he never had any problems with the Pakistani military, the primary power­broker in the country, with whom he has had major dif­ferences in the past.

Former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari of the PPP cast his vote in the prov­ince of Sindh, where the PPP looked strong. The PPP will hope it can spring a surprise and upset predictions by emerging victorious.

MQMP leaders Khalid Ma­qbool Siddiqui and Musta­fa Kamal claimed they were on course to win 19 National Assembly seats. As Pakistan awaits the official outcome, both congratulatory messag­es and calls for investigation into alleged irregularities re­flect the complex landscape of the electoral process.

Despite challenges and controversies, the nation re­mains committed to uphold­ing democratic principles and ensuring a fair and trans­parent electoral process.

The counting of votes is un­derway across the country after the polling for the gen­eral election of National As­sembly and four provincial assemblies ended peacefully on Thursday evening.

The polling that started at 8:00am continued till 5:00pm without any break. Howev­er, voters present inside the premises of polling stations were allowed to cast their votes even after expiry of the polling time. People over­whelmingly thronged to the polling stations across the country to cast their votes. Large queues of voters were seen at polling stations estab­lished in all the four provinc­es, reflecting their strong be­lief in the democratic process.

‘GREAT ENTHUSIASM’ 

The charged voters massive­ly participated in the election process with great enthusi­asm in all cities, including Ka­rachi, Lahore, and Islamabad. Similarly, people living in far flung areas like Waziristan also took part in the voting with a great spirit and zeal.

Voters in rural areas of the country too turned up at the polling stations with friends and family members to exer­cise their right to franchise.

It may be added that poll­ing was held on 265 seats of National Assembly and five hundred and ninety seats of four provincial assemblies.

For the four provincial as­semblies, 12695 candidates are in the field including 12123 male, 570 women and two transgender. The Elec­tion Commission had estab­lished ninety thousand six hundred seventy five polling stations in all four provinces.

Of these, forty-one thou­sand four hundred three are combined polling stations while twenty-five thousand three hundred twenty are for male and twenty-three thou­sand nine hundred fifty-two for women voters. The gen­eral public has expressed great satisfaction over the peaceful polling process go­ing on in the country.

Chief Election Commission­er Sikandar Sultan Raja was personally seeing the elec­tion proceeding at the Cen­tral Election Monitoring Con­trol Centre. The voting took place on 51 seats of the Ba­lochistan Assembly, 128 out of 130 seats of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, 296 out of 297 seats of the Pun­jab Assembly and 130 seats of the Sindh Assembly.

‘648,000 SECURITY PER­SONNEL DEPLOYED FOR POLLING’

The polling was held in 855 constituencies out of 859 how­ever due to the death of the candidate, voting will not be held in NA 8, PP 266, PK 22 and PK 91. The government had deployed over 648,000 se­curity personnel nationwide to ensure the safety of voters, as well as, conduct of fair and transparent polling process.

Out of 648,000 security personnel deployed, 137,000 were from army and paramil­itary force, while 511,000 po­licemen performed duties during the election.

An average of seven to eight security personnel manned each of the 90,777 polling stations across the country. In the first tier, the police performed the duty, along with the civil armed forc­es in the second tier and the armed forces in the third tier.

A special aerial Quick Re­action Force (QRF) had also been established to prompt­ly deal with any untoward in­cident, especially in the Ba­lochistan province.