MULTAN-The polling for general elections 2018 concluded and counting of votes in six national and 13 provincial assembly constituencies of Multan district began here on Wednesday evening.
Highly charged youth took part in election process with fervour as they brought their families including sisters and mothers to the polling stations to exercise right to vote. Polling began at 8am and continued till 6pm without any interruption. High turnout was observed in urban areas of Multan and long queues of voters, majority of whom were quite young, were seen outside urban polling stations.
The polling took place in peaceful environment and no big incident took place in entire district except a couple of minor brawls. Police sources said that workers of two political parties scuffled with one another at Shamasabad while in another incident a man accused cops of torturing him outside a polling station at Aam Khaas Bagh.
A total of 68 candidates are in the run for six national assembly seats and constituencies and 165 for 13 provincial assembly seats in Multan district. The ECP set up a total of 1817 polling stations across the district for 2556140 eligible voters.
The PML-N and PTI candidates were face to face in all six national assembly constituencies while PPP’s candidates were missing from NA-155, 156 and 159. The candidates of some other parties like MMA, Tehreek Labbaik and Pakistani Saraiki Party are also in the run from different constituencies.
The security personnel and election staff strictly implemented ban on mobile phone and cameras. They did not allow anyone including voters, media and candidates to carry mobile phones or cameras along with them inside the polling stations.
The candidates and their agents complained about missing or displaced votes at some polling stations. However, a facility introduced by the ECP, to receive their voting information through SMS, facilitated the voters at large.
Similarly, the candidates also provided conveyance to the voters despite ban on transport by the ECP. The motorcycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws, vans and cars provided by the candidates freely operated in different constituencies and there was no check on this violation.
The results are likely to start pouring in late in the night.