KARACHI: The voting time in the by-poll of NA-240 constituency of Karachi is over at 5:00 pm after which the counting of votes has begun.
In some polling stations there were people inside the polling stations even after 5pm and they were allowed to cast their votes.
Voting for by-election in Karachi’s NA-240 Korangi-2 began Thursday morning which remained continue till 5pm without any break.
The seat had fallen vacant after the death of MNA Iqbal Muhammad Ali on April 19. He was elected from NA-240 on MQM-Pakistan’s ticket in 2018 general elections.
There are a total of 529,855 registered voters in the constituency,including 2,94,385 male and 2,35,470 female voters.
As many as seven candidates from different political parties such as Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) along with 18 independent candidates are running for the election.
Tough fight is expected between Rafi-ud-Din Faisal of MQM-P, Shabir Qaim Khani of PSP, Nasir Lodhi of PPP and Kashif Qadri of TLP. .
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which currently has most MNAs from Karachi, has boycotted the by-poll. The Jamaat-e-Islami, which has been running a campaign for the rights of Karachi, is also not taking part in the election.
Over 309 polling stations have been constituted in the constituency, of which 203 polling stations have been declared very sensitive and 106 are termed sensitive.
According to the Karachi Additional IG Javed Alam Odho, a security plan has been prepared in collaboration with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the district administration.
About 1,500 police personnel have been deployed at polling stations for security. 12 to 16 police officers will be patrolling at each polling station.
A reserve force has also been deployed to avoid the risk of a collision between the workers and supporters of contesting parties.
