Ali Zaidi says he 'will resign as MNA' if ECP proves polling station visits during cantt board polls

Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi on Sunday challenged the Election Commission of Pakistan to prove he visited any polling station other than where he had cast his vote as cantonment board elections take place across Pakistan.

His remarks came in response to orders by District Election Commissioner East Amin Bashir Ali Qureshi to law enforcement agencies for his expulsion from the NA-244 Karachi East-III constituency "on account of visiting the constituency as reported by the monitoring constituted by the Election Commission of Pakistan for the transparent, free and fair elections".

"...He is creating problems [for] the voters and the code of conduct does not permit him to visit the constituency till culmination of election process," the order stated.

"Challenge the ECP to show me one polling station that I visited today, EXCEPT THE ONE WHERE I CASTED MY VOTE and I will resign as Federal Minister and even as MNA," Zaidi wrote on Twitter, while attaching a copy of the orders.

"Can the District East Election Commissioner Amin Qureshi show the same courage and issue a public apology if proven wrong?" he asked.

Voting took place today in 41 cantonment boards across Pakistan, with 1,560 candidates contesting against each other in 206 wards, Geo News reported.

The polling began at 8am and continued till 5pm.

According to Geo News, seven candidates have been elected unopposed; election will not take place in Kamra Cantonment Board and polls have been postponed in one ward in Rawalpindi and Pano Aqil each.

Most of the candidates — 684 — are independent while as many as 876 belong to different political parties. The ruling PTI has fielded the most candidates — 183.

Similarly, PML-N has fielded 144, PPP 113, JI 104, banned TLP 83, MQM-P 42, PSP 35, PML-Q 34, and JUI-F 25 candidates.