DERA GHAZI KHAN-Despite hot weather, long queues of voters were witnessed at the polling stations while a large number of voters could not cast their votes as they reached there after the scheduled time of 6pm.
Polling on four national and 8 provincial assembly constituencies of DG Khan District remained peaceful on Wednesday. A great deal of enthusiasm was shown by both voters and non-voters but healthy turnout was not seen at the polling stations due to hot day. Tight security arrangements were maintained in and around the polling stations, however at many places, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s instructions of keeping camps and non-voters away from the 400yards radius of the polling stations were not strictly observed.
More than urban areas, public enthusiasm was high in those constituencies which covered rural parts. The overall turnout is being calculated around 40 to 45 percent with 45 percent in rural belts and 40 percent in the urban localities.
The polling stations in the jurisdiction of the rural and the tribal belts got packed since the start of the polling process while in the urban populated areas the polling activity picked up pace only in the morning. The sluggish response was observed around the noon.
As many as 450 out of 1,124 votes were polled till 12:30pm at polling station established at Centre of Excellence Jail Road, in PP-289. At Ghazi University, Ex-Postgraduate College Dera Ghazi Khan that is located in the most populated and congested area of the city, the total number of registered voters is 1,592 of which around 469 votes were polled till 1pm.
At another polling station established at office of Public Health Engineering Divisional Officer Complex Railway road, 368 votes out of 992 were polled. A number of voters rushed to the polling stations while the access of the large number of voters to the polling stations was denied after the time limit fixed by the Election Commission of Pakistan.