Summary Polling will be held in 15 districts of Sindh and Punjab's 12 districts in the second phase.
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - Polling for second phase of local government elections in fifteen districts of Sindh and twelve districts of Punjab will be held today(Thursday). Polling time will start from 7:30 in the morning and will conclude at 5:30 in the evening. Police and army personnel will be designated at sensitive polling stations.
Punjab districts include Sargodha, Gujranwala, Sahiwal, Attock, Jhelum, Mianwali, Chiniot, Toba Tek Singh, Hafizabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Sheikhupura and Khanewal while in Sindh, polling will be held in Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allayar, Matiari, Dadu, Jamshoro, Badin, Thatta, Sajawal, Shaheed Benazirabad, Nausharo Feroz, Mirpur Khas, Umerkot and Tharparkar.
On the other hand, polling in Sanghar has been postponed due to security reasons.
A total of over 20 million voters will exercise their right of franchise in the two provinces.
Election Commission has finalised all necessary administrative and security measures to ensure free, fair and transparent polling process.
FIRST PHASE RESULTS
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had won a majority of seats in Punjab whereas Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) grabbed most seats in the Sindh province in the first phase of local government elections.
In the first phase, polling was held in 12 districts of Punjab including Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujrat, Chakwal, Bhakkar, Nankana Sahib, Kasur, Pakpattan, Okara, Lodhran, Vehari and Bahawalnagar districts while in Sindh, polling was held in eight districts including Sukkur, Khairpur, Ghotki, Larkana, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kashmore and Qamber.
The two other provinces, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the northwest and Balochistan in the west, voted earlier this year. Khan won in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in May but Nawaz Sharif and his allies came out on top in Balochistan in January.
Direct elections to local bodies in districts, which are sub-divisions of Pakistan’s provinces, were last held in 2005 under General Pervez Musharraf, who came to power in a bloodless coup.
SECURITY
Over 1 lakh 4 thousand policemen will be deployed for security on second phase of the local body polls in Punjab and the Rangers personnel will be deployed outside and inside the polling stations while as many as 40 companies of Pakistan Army will be monitoring the situation.
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