KARACHI: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Sunday conducted the first phase of the local government elections in 14 districts of Sindh and also a bye-election in Swat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to the ECP spokesperson, the commission had made adequate arrangements to hold these elections in a free, fair, and transparent manner.
The polling was started at 8:00 am and continued at 5:00 pm without any break while additional time was given to only those polling stations where the polling process had to stop due to any reason on the request of political parties leaders.
A total of 9,023 polling stations were established including 1,910 male, 1,895 female, 5,218 joint, and 224 improvised polling stations for 11304860 registered voters in 14 districts.
He said that foolproof security arrangements were made while Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja personally monitored the election process.
Similarly, special instructions were issued by the CEC to district monitoring officers and monitoring teams to remain vigilant while security agencies were directed to maintain peace during the election process, he added.
The 14 districts of Sindh where LG polls were held included Larkana, Kambar-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kashmore, Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Naushahro Feroze, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Umarkot, and Tharparkar –Agencies