Polling for by-elections in Karachi’s NA-246 constituency began at 8:00AM Thursday morning and will continue till 5:00PM without any break.
Strict security measures have been made for smooth balloting in the electoral contest. Over 9,000 Rangers and police personnel have been deployed at 213 polling stations.
All polling stations have been declared sensitive, while polling stations in Liaquatabad, Sharifabad and Bandhani Colony have been declared extremely sensitive.
A public holiday has been announced in Karachi’s district Central today to allow citizens to cast their votes.
Pillion riding ban will be effective in the district central while ban on it has been lifted in the other parts of the city.
Authorities have set up a command and control room at the office of the Deputy Commissioner Central and it has been handed over to police and Rangers.
NEWS UPDATE
834 pm – 87/213 Polling stations result, MQM secured 34,127 votes, PTI 10,386 & JI 4,581
809 pm – 70 Poling Stations MQM 26998 PTI 7907 JI 3330
759 pm – MQM Leading with 23,354 votes from 63 different polling stations
718 pm – Police brings in water canon to disperse miscreants from Karimabad.
715 pm – Polling station No.32, MQM secured 9949 votes, PTI 3686, JI 2084
710 pm – stats
555 pm – MQM – Haider Abbas Rizvi and PTI – Imran Ismail having tea together
552 pm – Polling station 47 – MQM leading with 279 votes. #NA246
547 pm – Stats 
535 pm – Polling station number 66 Karimabad – MQM leading with 702 votes . #NA246
531 pm – Polling station number 102 , 101 and 105 – MQM is leading with 900 votes. #NA246
530 pm – MQM leading with 1742 votes .
527 pm – Polling station number 67 MQM 702 PTI 230 JI 200
521 pm – MQM Leading from 2 polling stations.
510 pm – NA 246 Vote counting started …
5:01 Pm – NA 246 polling time ends – only the people inside the polling station will be able to vote for next five minutes.
500 pm – Polling time in #NA246 by-election ends
4:02pm – According to some reports, voters turnout today stood around 1,60,000 uptil now. – Source ARY News
MQM NA-246 voting should be extended by 3 hours: Farooq Sattar
Holding a press conference, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Farooq Sattar demanded the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to extend the time of voting by three hours.
He said the voter turnout was historic despite the fact that it was a by-election.
1 PM PST . Rangers arrested a presiding officer from a polling station in Gharibabad area of NA-246 constituency for allegedly allowing casting of fake vote.
The arrests of the presiding officer Syed Majid Ali and a bogus voter Rehan Ahmed were made by Rangers from the polling station located at the Delhi Boys Government School in Gharibabad area.
Rehan is not a registered voter in the constituency of NA-246.
Rangers have sent Majid Ali and Rehan Ahmed to jail for three and six months respectively using the power of magistrate. Both have also been fined 5000 rupees each.
A polling agent was also arrested from the polling station 105 after a woman took away the voting stamp along with her.
The ECP and NADRA’s ‘8300 SMS Service’ has been set up to help registered voters in NA-246 to check the status of their votes and particulars. Voters are able to send an SMS to 8300 and receive information about their block code, their registered voter number and polling station.
