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Local polls in Pakistan begin

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Charges of pre-election rigging

ISLAMABAD: The first phase of election to local bodies in Pakistan ended on Thursday on a relatively peaceful note amid charges of pre-poll rigging by Opposition parties.

Information Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed told journalists that the polling went off peacefully amid enthusiasm. He said the Government was holding transparent elections and dismissed the charges of rigging.

Though the election was on a non-party basis, all the mainstream parties have fielded their candidates and actively coordinated the campaign as the exercise is seen as a curtain raiser to the 2007 general election. In the first phase, 53 districts in the four provinces were covered.

Counting of votes was taken up and the results are expected in most of the constituencies later in the night. The second phase scheduled on August 25 and the last phase in September.

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