PPP leads in first phase of Sindh LG polls

PPP leads in first phase of Sindh LG polls

Karachi (Web Desk): The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) took a clean lead in the first phase local government elections in 14 districts of Sindh on Sunday.

According to unconfirmed and unofficial results, the ruling PPP won with a big margin, while the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) stood second, independents third, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) fourth, and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) secured the fifth position.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) conducted the first phase of the local government elections in 14 districts of Sindh on Sunday amidst sporadic incidents of violence, clashes and at least two deaths.

According to the ECP spokesperson, the polling started at 8am and continued till 5pm without any break while additional time was given to only those polling stations where the polling process had to stop due to any reason on the request of political parties leaders.

The ECP spokesperson stated that adequate arrangements were made to hold the elections in a free, fair, and transparent manner.

A total of 9,023 polling stations were established including 1,910 male, 1,895 female, 5,218 joint, and 224 improvised polling stations for 11304860 registered voters in 14 districts.

He said that foolproof security arrangements were made while Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja personally monitored the election process.

Similarly, special instructions were issued by the CEC to district monitoring officers and monitoring teams to remain vigilant while security agencies were directed to maintain peace during the election process, he added.

The 14 districts of Sindh where LG polls were held included Larkana, Kambar-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kashmore, Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Naushahro Feroze, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Umarkot, and Tharparkar.