Polling Pace Suggests A Good Turnout Is Expected

Polling process has concluded peacefully and in an orderly manner across Multan district and presence of sizable number of people witnessed at polling stations suggested a good turnout was expected in elections 2024

MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Feb, 2024) Polling process has concluded peacefully and in an orderly manner across Multan district and presence of sizable number of people witnessed at polling stations suggested a good turnout was expected in elections 2024.

Statistics gathered during visits to different polling stations in Multan city suggested that the polling process continued steadily and in an orderly manner, even at those polling stations where rush of voters was witnessed.

During visits to some polling stations till 10 to 10:30 am in the morning in NA-151 and NA-150 Constituencies, the voters’ turnout was recorded at 10 per cent, which, however, swelled to 30 per cent in some other polling stations in NA-151 and NA-150 by 2pm.

Figures collected from four polling stations, two for males and two females, in NA-149, showed that 22.5 per cent votes were polled till 1230 hours.

During 4 to 4:30 PM, in NA-149, a polling station No 146 showed over 50 per cent turnout as 1000 plus votes were polled out of total 1925 voters. A female polling station No 147 with registered votes 2027, approximately 1500 votes were polled showing around 74 per cent turnout till 4PM. At PS-150, out of total 2300 votes, over 50 per cent votes were polled till 4:15 pm, 45 minutes before the scheduled conclusion.

At PS-31, a women polling station had 1913 registered votes out of whom 850 were cast showing over 44 per cent turnout and a number of voters were still inside the polling station.

It may be noted that general elections 2008 had witnessed voters turnout at 44 per cent, 2013 elections 55 per cent and above 50 per cent but below 2013 figures in 2018. The presence of voters and visit to sample polling stations suggest the election 2024 voters’ turnout could be around 45 per cent or above in Multan.

Deputy Election Commissioner (DEC-1) Multan Muhammad Iqbal said that polling process began on time at 8 am and concluded peacefully 5 pm in Multan district. He said, it was hard to predict turnout at this time but added that all that matters is elections were held in a peaceful manner.

Meanwhile, District Returning Officer (DRO) Captain (Retired) Rizwan Qadeer also visited polling stations and central election centre from where he monitored the election activities.

DRP said that election staff was linked to an online system to compile election results and to complete the national duty in an efficient manner.

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