It was a hectic day for polling agents, presiding officers, policemen, and military officials as by-elections in NA-122 and PP-147 took place in the city on October 11.
The overall turnout of votes was commendable, keeping in view that people do not typically bother with by-polls.
The presiding officer (PO) of Govt. Muslim League High School, Empress Road told Pakistan Today that there were 1,015 registered voters in his polling station and more than 50 per cent had casted their votes by 3pm. He was satisfied with the arrangements of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and said that not a single untoward incident happened in the area.
Muhammad Asghar from the Railway Station Gosht Market told Pakistan Today that he has been a diehard worker of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), but he was voting for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) this time because his former party is occupied by “corrupt and tainted leaders”.
Asghar’s son, who had helped bring his father to the polling station, told this scribe that he joined PTI three years ago because of its motto of change.
Another voter from the area, Yasin Butt, 30, voted for PML-N. He told Pakistan Today that PTI’s hollow slogans cannot attract him and the failure of its government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa speaks for itself. He was certain that ‘the lion would roar’ when the final counts came in. The workers from both PML-N and PTI were raising slogans in front of each other and claiming that their respective candidate had won.
At the Examination Hall Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education 49-A Lawrence Road polling station, long queues of voters were seen. According to the polling staff, women of the area thronged to the polling station after 2pm. A woman told Pakistan Today that she had been standing in the queue for more than an hour and staff at the polling station was very slow.
Muhammad Rafi, another voter from NA-122, told this scribe that he has 100 per cent confidence in PML-N’s leadership. He cast his vote for Sardar Ayaz Sadiq because he felt that it was the only party completely capable of bringing Pakistan out from the darkness.
Khawaja Jamshaid Imam, a voter supporting PTI, complained that the voters from the area have been shifted to other constituencies with the connivance of ECP and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). This was proof that there was planned rigging.
It is pertinent to mention here that load shedding was witnessed in some polling stations despite the tall claims of Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO). The process of polling was carried out without electricity in Govt. Kinnaird Girls High School for a few hours. The PO said that the ECP should have arranged for generators.
Khurram Shehzad, who voted for PTI at the polling station set up in Lahore College of Commerce & Computer Science, told Pakistan Today that his party would regain its seat. He claimed that PML-N won the seat in 2013 by rigging the election.
Another voter from the same area, Ayaz Ali, voted for PML-N and said that he felt positive vibes from different polling stations that a win for PML-N was in the cards.
A PO deputed in the Mughalpura area revealed that he has been conducting elections for many years but the turnout in this by-election was commendable.
While visiting polling stations in different areas it was seen that the voters and supporters of PPP were very few in number. The PPP did not even deploy its camp offices in most areas of the constituency.
On the whole, the process of election was conducted in the peaceful manner but a fight was witnessed in Basti Seydan Shah Area between the workers of PTI and PML-N in the morning.
