Pak poll violence: 35 killed in suicide blast

Voting in a tense election to choose a new government in Pakistan ended on Wednesday with at least 35 people being killed in a hardline Wahhabi ISIS terror group’s  suicide attack and poll-related violence during the day.

The voting started at 8 AM local time on more than 85,000 polling stations and ended at 6 PM. The results would be announced within 24 hours.

The polling ended at its scheduled time despite calls by several major parties, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), to extend the polling time by an hour. They had complained of “a slow voting process” and thus sought more time to facilitate voters - a request that was rejected by the Election Commission.

Hours after polling began for the general elections, an Islamic State suicide bomber blew himself up outside a polling station in Bhosa Mandi area of Balochistan’s provincial capital, Quetta, killing 31 people, including policemen.

In separate incidents, four persons were killed in poll-related violence. Clashes erupted between rival parties outside several polling stations, reports said.

Nearly 10.6 crore people are registered to vote for members of the lower house of parliament and four provincial assemblies. The election marks the second democratic transition of power in the nation’s 70-year history.

While polling stations officially opened for voting at 8 AM, enthusiastic citizens queued up outside their respective stations as early as 7 AM.

Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa cast his vote in Rawalpindi. Shahbaz Sharif, the PML-N president who is hoping to become the next prime minister, was among the first to cast his vote in Lahore.

“Just cast my vote. High time that all of you came out to vote for Pakistan’s progress and prosperity. May this election be a source of peace and stability for the nation!,” he tweeted.

About 4,49,465 policemen and over 3,70,000 military personnel have been deployed for security.