Page 9 - Pakistan Link - January 20, 2023

PAKISTAN PAKISTAN LINK - JANUARY 20, 2023 - P9

KARACHI: As recounting of votes Post-poll Violence Hits Karachi as yyumabad intersection ended follow-
continues in the port city of Karachi ing which traffic was restored.
following Sunday’s local government Clashes Erupt between Rival Groups Reports said that workers
elections across Sindh, clashes in pelted stones at one another result-
multiple areas across the metropolis ing in injury to police personnel and
erupted among political parties, leav- four journalists. They also broke the
ing several people injured, a private window panes of the DRO’s office.
TV channel reported. PTI MNA Syed Ali Zaidi said he was
The violence-affected areas in- also injured in the clash. PTI’s Khur-
cluded district Keamari, Malir Halt, ram Sher Zaman said the LG poll re-
Gulshan-e-Hadeed and Qayyum- sults were being tampered. “We are
abad, according to the TV channel. demanding the DRO and the DC to
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf notify the result as per form-11, but
(PTI) protested outside the office of they are not responding as they are
the District Returning Officer (DRO) being pressured by the provincial
in district Keamari’s SITE area, where government”, he claimed. PTI MPA
workers of the Pakistan Peoples Ali Zaidi claimed the result was be-
Party were also present. Supporters ing changed inside the DRO s of-
of the two rival parties chanted slo- fice. “PPP’s hired rascals came in the
gans against each other. Outside the presence of the police and started
district commissioner’s office in Ke- pelting stones at us which left me
amari, too, workers of the two groups injured”, he added. PPP’s Sharjeel
resorted to stone-pelting as a result of Memon said the PTI workers had a
which two journalists were injured. plan to attack the PPP workers. “It
An additional police contingent is condemnable to attack the oppo-
was deployed and water canon was nents after facing defeat in election,
sought outside the DC office ahead however, the administration will
of PTI’s expected protest where PPP take action against the perpetrators”,
workers also stood. he added.
One person was injured due to the police officials said. Meanwhile, Hadeed’s union council 4. Their from confrontation,” Senior Super- Meanwhile, the Election Com-
stone pelting outside the DRO office workers of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) protest affected the flow of traffic on intendent of Police Irfan Bahadur mission of Pakistan (ECP) on
in district Keamari, where police re- staged protests at Malir Halt and Sharea Faisal near Malir Halt. “Po- said, while describing the situation in Wednesday took notice of irregu-
sorted to baton-charge. “The situa- Gulshan-e-Hadeed. JI workers have lice personnel is present outside the Malir where clashes erupted between larities during Karachi local govern-
tion is under control and workers of accused manipulation of local bod- DC office in Malir. Police are trying workers of the JI and the PPP. PTI ment elections in six union councils
political parties have bene dispersed,” ies election results in Gulshan-e- to stop workers of political parties workers’ demonstration at the Qa- (UCs)… – Daily Times

tion Network (FAFEN) said on FAFEN Says Controversies in Sindh LG Polls room during the process. At 4pc of
KARACHI: The Free and Fair Elec-
the observed polling stations, unau-
Thursday that controversies regard- thorized persons were present dur-
ing the quality of the electoral pro- ‘Do Not Augur Well’ for General Elections ing the counting process.”
cess in the recently held Sindh local It further said that the presid-
government polls “do not augur well”, ing officers at 18pc of the observed
especially when political parties are forms leaving empty sections made polling stations”. polling stations conducted a second
preparing for general elections. for recording polling stations’ It further said that the en- count of the ballots at the request of
In an observation report, FAFEN names, registered voters, forcement of campaigning polling agents, while at 45pc on their
noted that many controversies in the gender-disaggregated and canvassing restric- own motion. “Moreover, the poll-
LG polls stemmed from weaknesses number of votes tions by the ECP ing agents and security officials were
in the legislative framework that gov- polled, and sig- did not register seen to be touching the ballot papers
erned elections, adding that these natures of any consid- at 12pc and 4pc of the polling sta-
needed to be rectified through nego- polling offi- erable im- tions, respectively.”
tiations among all political actors. cials.” p r o v e - According to observers, the
“Unless elections lead to politi- T h e m e n t election materials were available at
cal stability, the process of democra- r e p o r t s i n c e the majority of the observed poll-
tization will continue to weaken and recom- t h e ing booths. Indelible ink and stamp
so will the public trust in democracy mend- f i r s t pads were available at 93pc of the
and its ability to improve the social ed en- phase observed polling booths, electoral
and economic well-being of the peo- suring o f rolls, and secrecy at 92pc, nine-ma-
ple,” the report said. strict- local trix stamps used for marking ballot
At the same time, the Election er en- gov - papers by voters at 93pc, ECP official
Commission of Pakistan needs to force- e r n - stamps at 89pc, and transparent bal-
open up to political actors and ad- m e n t ment lot boxes at 90pc.”
dress their legitimate concerns, the of the e l e c - The second phase of the local
report added. code of t i o n s government elections was held in 16
The report further noted that conduct as “all districts of Sindh on Sunday. How-
an “impressive number” of voters r e g a r d - m a j o r ever, major contesting parties — in-
turned up in Badin, Jamshoro, Tando ing cam- parties and cluding the ruling PPP — had raised
Muhammad Khan, Tando Allah Yar, paigning and candidates concerns over an unusual delay in
Thatta, and Malir district while the canvassing on were observed the results in Karachi and blamed the
turnout in Karachi Central, Karachi election day, set- wooing voters in ECP for mismanagement.
East, Karachi West, Karachi South, ting up adequately close vicinity of the The ECP took more than 36
Korangi, Hyderabad, and Kemari spaced polling booths, polling stations, and in hours to announce the results of 236
districts was “relatively low”. compliance with the voter some instances inside the union committees of Karachi as the
It also noted that the voting identification and ballot issuance polling stations”. opposition PTI and Jamaat-i-Islami
process remained orderly, unlike the processes, availability of female staff It noted that the due procedure (JI) accused the provincial admin-
first phase of the LG polls. However, at female polling booths, and provi- opening process at 90 polling sta- for counting ballots was followed at istration of “rigging and managing
legal and procedural irregularities sion of basic facilities at polling sta- tions, the availability of election staff most polling stations, saying election things” in its favor. However, con-
concerning campaigning inside and tions before the general elections to and materials at the voting process at staff was observed to be “generally testing parties remain unsure about
around polling stations, and the bal- improve polling day management. 953 polling booths, voter identifica- complying” with counting require- their mandate as the electoral watch-
lot issuance process were observed tion and ballot issuance processes for ments. dog has yet to consolidate the results.
during the first phase persisted dur- Observations 1,121 voters, and counting process at “At 89 per cent of the observed A day earlier, violent clash-
ing the second as well. FAFEN said its observations 74 polling stations. polling stations, the presiding of- es broke out in Karachi between
“FAFEN observers noted omis- were based on reports received from The report noted that the poll- ficers placed the ballot boxes at a workers of rival political parties
sions and inadequacies in the poll- “trained and duly accredited citizen ing process during the second phase central location before opening them outside offices of the district re-
ing station result forms (Form 11) observers” deployed at 343 statisti- of LG election was “peaceful and and starting the counting. The doors turning officers forcing police in
recurring during the second phase. cally sampled polling stations. organized with adequate security at 64pc of the polling stations were the metropolis to intervene to stop
They reported cases where presiding It said it deployed 104 ob- arrangements barring scattered in- closed before the start of counting so the situation from getting out of
officers did not duly fill out the result servers who observed the stances of verbal altercations at a few that no person can leave or enter the control. - Dawn
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