Voting for Islamabad's local polls concludes peacefully

The first-ever local government elections took place in the capital under strict security.

Islamabad: Polling for the first-ever local government elections in the Islamabad Capital Territory concluded at 5:30pm on Monday.
Polling largely remained peaceful with minor complaints of irregularities at some points. The complete results are expected to be available by Tuesday. The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML -N) is widely believed to be in the lead while Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI ) offering tough competition.
The first-ever local government elections took place in the capital under strict security. The PTI had objected to the polling days selected on working day. The ECP rejected demand for declaring the day as holiday but later directed that all offices would be closed at two afternoon.
The PTI also accused the election commission of announcing delimitation at the last minute giving an edge to the PML -N by increasing the number of union councils to 32 in rural areas where it had won the National Assembly seat while decreasing to 23 the number of councils in the constituency in which PTI's Asad Umar was elected. The party further criticised the elevation of PML-N MP Tariq Fazal as federal minister just on the eve of election. The PML-N rejected these allegations. It blamed Asad Umar of inability to remain in touch with voters. Polling began at 7:00 in the morning and concluded at 5:30 in the evening. Over 2,400 candidates contested for the slots of chairman, vice chairman and councillors.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Army, Rangers and FC soldiers were deployed to assist the Police. Over 684,000 voters will elect their representatives.
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