Karachi NA-249 by-poll: ECP rejects Miftah Ismail's request to extend polling time

• ECP rejects Miftah Ismail's request to extend polling time.
• Miftah Ismail had requested extension in polling time by two hours at least to accommodate a large number of people queuing up at polling stations to cast their votes. 
• "Overall working efficiency of all presiding officers and their teams has been 'very slow'," said Ismail.
  

KARACHI: The Election Commission of Pakistan has rejected the request of the PML-N candidate for the NA-249 constituency, Miftah Ismail, to extend the polling time by two hours.

In a letter addressed to the provincial election commission on Thursday, Ismail had said he was submitting the request to extend the polling time to facilitate voters who are fasting in the hot weather.

He said the overall working efficiency of all presiding officers and their teams has been "very slow" which was affecting the polling process.

"Concurrently, majority of voters also arrived in polling stations late afternoon due to their fasting and hot weather conditions," he wrote.

Ismail said he feared due to these factors, most voters will not be able to exercise their Constitutional right to vote for the candidate of their choice as the polling time was nearing its end.

"A large number of voters are still present at various polling stations in anticipation of casting their votes," he had said.

He requested the commission to provide an opportunity to a large number of people still present in the polling stations across the constituency to cast their votes, by extending the polling time "minimum for two hours at least".

Polling underway for NA-249 constituency

Polling for the NA-249 constituency is underway and the process is expected to continue till 5pm uninterrupted, with political heavyweights such as the PPP, the PTI and the PML-N vying for the seat in what is being termed as a close contest among the parties.

There are 30 candidates in the electoral arena, including PML-N’s Miftah Ismail, PTI's Amjad Afridi, PPP'S Qadir Khan Mandokhel, Karachi’s former mayor Mustafa Kamal and MQM's Hafiz Mursaleen, besides 18 independent candidates.

There are over 339,000 registered voters in NA-249, including 201,656 male and 137,935 female voters, who are casting their votes on 276 polling stations. The ECP has declared 184 polling stations highly sensitive and 92 others sensitive. The CCTV cameras have been installed at highly sensitive polling stations.

Some well-known areas in the constituency include Delhi Colony, Mujahid Colony, Baldia, and Saeedabad, while the prominent ethnic groups in this working-class neighbourhood comprise Urdu-speaking people, Pashtuns, Kashmiris, and the Seraiki-speaking lot.