The time to vote, with the exception of three constituencies in Karachi, is now officially over. The last few hours of election monitoring have been dominated by allegations of rigging, especially in Hyderabad and Karachi. In particular, NA-250 has been in the spotlight where one polling station is yet to begin voting.
As a result of the allegations, several parties announced boycotts of different constituencies. Rigging allegations have also been made in Matiari, the home constituency of Makhdoom Amin Fahim. PTI said that Karachi was being ‘held hostage’ yet again. Both PML-N and PTI said they would not accept election results in Karachi.
Polling was extended by an hour across the country, and in some parts of Karachi, by three hours. The ECP said it would annull results where rigging was discovered, while admitting that they had failed to hold free and fair elections in Karachi.
MQM-Haqiqi, Jamaat-e-Islami, Sunni Ittehad Council, Jamiat-Ulema-e-Pakistan boycotted elections in different areas of Karachi and Hyderabad. MQM also boycotted elections in Lyari.
Sporadic violence also occurred in Balochistan, while elections in Punjab were conducted relatively peacefully. In KP, there were a few cases of areas where women were not allowed to vote.
