Pakistan Today conducted a survey of the NA-122 constituency to get a feel of what happened on ground on Election Day as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Abdul Aleem Khan and Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Ayaz Sadiq went head to head against each other on Sunday.
Polling remained peaceful in most polling stations in NA-122 and no untoward incident was observed in the constituency. This was largely due to the deployment of army in the area.
Our survey showed that voters and supporters from PTI and PML-N showed patience during the polling process. CCTV cameras recorded the polling process at all polling stations, i.e. Shadman, Jail Road, Lawrence Road, Ichhra, Rehmanpura and Samanabad areas.
It is pertinent to mention here that women casted their votes in the first half of the day. A number of male voters came to the polling stations to cast their votes after 12pm.
It was observed that PML-N and PTI set up their polling camps in front of each other in Samanabad, Shadman and Rehmanpura and supporters of both parties were also found chanting slogans in favour of their candidates. It was also observed that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had not set up its polling camps outside polling stations at Jail Road, Lawrence Road, Rehmanpura, Ichhra or Samanabad.
Army men told Pakistan Today that the Police was not allowed to enter any of the polling stations, and all policemen were on duty outside the polling stations. Army men deputed at the Examinations Centre Lawrence Road said that nobody had been allowed to carry cellphones inside the polling stations. Voters who had cell phones faced difficulty because they did not know who to handover their mobiles to, or where to collect them from after casting their vote, our survey revealed.
PML-N supporters were picking and dropping their voters and supporters from their homes to the polling stations during the day. The supporters said that the party had advised them to provide transport for voters, especially the elderly and women. On the other hand, PTI supporters were found roaming the roads and chanting slogans in favour of their party.
The turnout of the total voters in Samamabad, Ichhra and Rehmanpura remained 35 per cent until 3pm and there were very few people at the polling stations on Jail Road and Lawrence Road before 12pm.
Some voters spoke in favour of their candidates and the majority refused to divulge whom they had voted for. Many claimed that politicians could victimise them once they came into power if the vote was not cast in their favour.
It was also observed that army officials noted the names of the people entering the stations at only one school in Shah Jamal i.e. HQ School System. No similar trend was observed elsewhere in Shadman, Shah Jamal, Samanabad, Jail Road, Rehmanpura, Ichhra or Samanabad.
At the time of filing this report, Sardary Ayaz Sadiq of PML-N was leading the contest with a margin of over 4,000 votes.
