Daily Times

Karachi: Long queues were seen at various polling stations across the city on Wednesday.

When asked, voters complained that as a result of the slow pace of the polling process and lack of shades in the waiting areas, they had to wait for long hours to cast their votes.

At many polling stations in NA-255, long lines were seen till polling ended and most of the people were unable to vote as they were not allowed to cast their votes despite standing in lines for hours. Similar problems were faced by voters in NA-247 where the voters said that they were facing difficulties due to slow polling process. Slow voting process was a cause of inconvenience particularly for elderly voters of the constituency who had to wait for hours on a stretch to cast their votes. Several key political figures from Karachi also complained that the voting process was slow. Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) candidate from PS-104 said that slow voting was bound to effect the voter turnout.

Abdul Aziz Memon of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) also claimed that due to deputation of elderly polling staff, the pace of polling remained slow and voters faced difficulties. However, despite demands from the top political parties to extend the polling time due to slow voting, the ECP did not extend the polling time.

Confusion ensured in several polling stations as voters tried to find their names in complicated lists. A common complaint from voters was that they were unable to find their names in voter lists provided at polling stations. “My name was not present in the voter’s list when I went to cast my vote,” complained Habib Shah, a voter from NA-247.

“I have been wandering for at least two hours to find my serial number and polling station,” said Haji Sanaullah, a voter from NA-246. This problem was further aggravated by the fact that three hours into polling, the SMS service introduced by ECP through which voters could receive information regarding their serial number and assigned polling station, crashed. As a result, confused voters wandered around in an attempt to find their assigned polling stations.

In Korangi district, voters also faced difficulties in reaching their assigned polling stations since they were far away. Some voters in Korangi district also complained that the polling staff was rude and impolite while others demanded that biometric voting be introduced to make the voting process less cumbersome and more swift.”It was so easy for the government to introduce biometric verification of SIM cards, why can’t they introduce biometric voting to facilitate us?” asked a voter.

There were also complaints from Korangi district that the polling staff was overage and unable to perform its duties properly. “ECP needs to hire young and energetic people as polling staff,” said Moeen-ud-Din, a young voter from NA-240. He added that elections should be well organized since they occurred just once in five years.

In most constituencies of the city, voters had to wait in the scorching heat of sun to wait for their turn since no arrangements were made to provide them with shade.

Meanwhile, polling staff also faced difficulties as arrangements made by the ECP were not up to the mark. Sources revealed that due to a shortage of staff in Korangi district, Sindh government officials who were not traditionally assigned election duties were directed by the ECP to facilitate the polling staff in dispatching election duties.

There were complaints from polling staff at different polling stations in District Central. The staff said that they were facing a shortage of marking ink and thumb markers. In some areas of District Central, power outages impacted the polling process. The polling process was then continued in torch and mobile lights. Some Returning Officers (RO’s) complained that polling stations had not been equipped with emergency lights.

Published in Daily Times, July 26^th 2018.