HYDERABAD:The polling process, largely remained smooth and peaceful except for a few incidents of unarmed clashes, at 709 polling stations in Hyderabad on Sunday concluded peacefully at 5 pm.
The voter turnout appeared below moderate owing to the boycott by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).
A Clash occurred between the workers of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) outside the polling stations in Union Committee numbers 24 and 53.
However, the police and local leaders of the 2 parties controlled and dispersed the workers.
In one incident an argument happened between a presiding officer and a candidate of the PPP at a polling in Union Committee number 27.
The voting process started late at some polling stations apparently because of the winter chill in the morning because of which the voters did not turn to the polling stations.
The Hyderabad police deployed up to 5,500 policemen with the district’s security divided into 4 zones, each headed by an SSP.
The vote count was underway during the filing of this report.