ISLAMABAD: Polling for today (Feb 8) General Elections 2024 started across Pakistan Thursday morning amid tight security and adequate arrangements for electioneering.
Low turnout was witnessed in the morning as a result of cold weather and it is expected that with the rising sun people will come out for use their adult-franchise. The polling started all over Pakistan right at 8:00 a.m. and will continue until 5:00 pm without any break.
Like other parts of the country, the polling started in the federal capital at 8:00 a.m. and would continue until 5:00 pm without any break. The queues of voters were seen outside polling booths waiting to cast votes.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), over 128 million registered voters will exercise their democratic right by casting votes for candidates participating in elections for the national and provincial legislatures. The polling is being held for 265 seats of the National Assembly and 590 seats of provincial assemblies. The voting is taking place on 51 seats of the Balochistan Assembly, 128 out of 130 seats of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, 296 out of 297 seats of the Punjab Assembly and 130 seats of the Sindh Assembly. The polling will take place in 855 constituencies out of 859 however due to the death of the candidate, voting will not be held in NA 8, PP 266, PK 22 and PK 91.
It is wirthy to be mentioned here that the number of people who exercise their right to vote today (Feb 8, 2024) has increased by 21 million over last four years.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), total number of registered voters in the country in 2018 was nearly 106 million voters and the count rose to around 127 million this year. The number of voters has increased by 21 million.
Giving a year-wise break-down of the rise in number of voters from the previous general elections of 2018, the Electoral Watchdog stated that total number of registered voters in 2018 was 105,955,406 (106 million), in 2019 the figures rose to 112,390,938 (113 million), in 2020 it was 115,748,753 (116 million) in 2021 it rose to 121,195,062 (122 million), in 2022 the figures increased to 122,196,122 (123 million) and in 2023 the figure reached to 126,980,272 (127 million).
While taking a look at the breakdown, the number of female voters is 58.5 million and they account for 46 per cent of the total number of people who exercise their adult franchise. In contrast, the number of male voters is 68.5 million which makes 54 per cent of the total votes.
The age-wise analysis shows that people aged between 18-35 have 57.1 million registered votes this year which makes 45 per cent of the total number of registered voters. On the other hand, the elderly voters, aged 56 and above, are 24 million or 18.9 per cent of the total voters.
The province-wise break-down of the registered voters shows that Punjab tops the list with the most number of votes. The largest province of the country has 72.3 million or 56.9 per cent of the total registered voters.
After Punjab, Sindh comes in second number with 26.6 million, making the total number of votes 21 per cent. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa comes third with 21.7 million voters with 17.1 per cent and in the last comes Balochistan with 5.3 million voters with 4.2 per cent.
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