The Pakistan Peoples Party led the violence-marred Sindh local government elections in 14 districts, according to unofficial results received from 309 polling stations out of 354.

The PPP made a clean sweep in Larkana, Kandhkot, and Sukkur districts. It won more than 244 seats on the municipal committee, followed by GDA (22), Independents (20), PTI (14), and JUI (7).

The Sindh-ruling party was victorious on over 426 seats – out of the total 694 town committees in four divisions. Other successful candidates were 65 of GDA, Independents 62, PTI’s 10, and JUI’s 8.

In a letter to the CEC on Sunday, the Sindh ruling party urged the commission to extend the polling time by two hours until 7pm in view of the high temperature and low turnout as reported by polling agents.

Incidents of aerial firing, harassment, and clashes were reported in different districts in the first phase of local government elections.

Violence erupted in several spots. The brother of PTI candidate Zafar Gandapuri at Tando Adam’s Municipal Ward number 13 in Sanghar was killed when clashes broke out between the PTI and PPP at a polling station. At least three people were injured.

Seven people were wounded in clashes between two groups at the Hashim Khaskheli polling station.

People are turning out slowly in some districts, mostly because it is quite hot. They can vote until 5pm. Violence has been mostly reported in Kandhkot.

• 9:20am: Polling stopped due to a commotion at Nadir Shah dispensary polling station. The TLP candidate and voters protested over TLP’s missing voting symbol on the ballot paper. Security deployed.
• Kandhkot: Clashes erupt between JUI and PPP workers in ward 10. Thirty people injured as they attacked each other with sticks.
• Kashmore: Voters in Ward No. 10 of Guddu Town Committee have clashed over an independent candidate entering a polling station.
• According to the spokesperson of the Election Commission, the ECP will issue a new schedule for re-elections in constituencies where the candidate names were not spelled correctly.
• Gunmen have stormed Tori Bungalow at UC Dari polling station in Kandhkot and abducted ten members of the election staff.
• Four people, including a candidate, were injured in a clash between political activists at Farid Mehr polling station in Panu Aqil.
• Election was postponed in a few wards due to misprinting (typographical error) of the names of candidates in the ballot papers.

ECP in a statement said that the election commission would issue a new schedule for elections on the seats for which the elections were postponed, adding that the election body had launched an inquiry in this regard.

So far, 885 PPP candidates have been elected unopposed, and:

Mirpurkhas

In Mirpurkhas there are 2 Municipal Committees, 22 Union Committees and 54 union councils. A total of 1,330 candidates from different parties will stand. There are 843,663 voters in the district and 785 polling stations have been set up.

This means there are 9 PPP chairpersons, vice chairpersons declared successful unopposed. And 54 candidates have been elected unopposed as General Councilors.

Sukkur

Sukkur has 647 polling stations for 87,508 voters. Security is tight with 2,438 policemen on duty, 11 companies of the Pak Army on standby and 1,509 Rangers deployed.

Polling started a little late. A lot of people have turned up already to vote. At least people three people were injured in clashes between two political parties at Fareed Mehr polling station in Pano Aqil. One injured has been shifted to hospital.

Journalists have not been issued passes, so they are having trouble entering polling stations. They are reporting from outside polling stations.

Voter counts are going down in Rohri, which has 12 wards, due to the heat. The temperature is 45°C and it feels like 53°C.

These are the unofficial results as of Monday night, for Sukkur:

Larkana

People were slow to turn out in the morning, Salamat Ali reported by 9am on Sunday. It was extremely hot and even though polling has opened, few people had turned up.

So far 15 people have been elected unopposed and they are mostly PPP. It is facing opposition from GDA, JI and other parties. It has 2 Municipal Committees.

The temperature in Larkana is 46°C, however, it feels like 51°C, reports our anchorperson Imran Sultan from the city. The turnout was not much in the area apparently because of the sweltering weather.

Aaj News reporter Salamat Abro reported that people from the nearby areas were arriving at the polling stations. The political parties had earlier moved the court for delaying the LG polls because of the hot weather.

Unofficial results

Nawabshah

Armed men attacked three polling stations, including wards number 1, 8, and 3, in Shaheed Benazirabad (Nawabshah) and took away the ballot papers, leading to a delay in the voting process.

Candidate symbols were missing from ballot papers at one of the polling stations and two groups clashed at the other station as they damaged the materials and tore apart the ballot papers.

These are the unofficial results as of Monday night, for Nawabshah:

A group of people also damaged the voting material and took away the ballot box in the third polling station. Security has been kept on high alert after the incident.

Voter turnout remained low in Nawabshah due to hot weather and clashes. At least three cases were registered against many people for taking away the ballot paper boxes in Shaheed Benazirabad polling station. The cases were registered on the complaint of ROs. So far no person was arrested.

Shikarpur

JI, PPP, GDA and PTI candidates stood from Shikarpur however, the PPP was declared successful in all five wards of Garhi Yasin Town Committee, according to the unofficial results Monday night.

Sanghar

There are about 1.1 million voters here. The PPP was declared victorious in 11 town committees: Shahpur Chakar, Jhatia, Jhol Sarhari, Khipro, Berani, Kandyari.

Khairpur

The voting was held for three municipal committee, 20 towns, and 88 UCs. More than 1.4 million people, including over 700,000 men and over 600,000 women, are eligible voters in the district. More than 2,300 candidates are taking part in the election. Over 5,000 police and as many as 4,000 rangers have been deployed.

Kandhkot

Assistant Presiding Officer Amna Baloch has been injured in a clash between female staff in Ward No. 2 of Kandhkot Municipal Committee.

Polling re-started in Ward number 10 of Kandhkot after more than 30 people injured in fight between two groups. The situation came under control after the DRO called in rangers. Sources said polling staff members were harassed in a few polling stations, while security was not up to the mark in a few sensitive polling stations.

Unofficial results

The 14 districts of Sindh where LG polls will be held are Larkana, Qambar Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kashmore, Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Naushahro Feroze, Shaheed Benazirabad/Larkana, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Umarkot and Tharparkar.

During the second phase elections will be held in Karachi, Hyderabad and Thatta on July 24.

Naushahro Feroze

The process of polling was stopped in Naushahro Feroze’s Union Shaheen Suleman Polling station after clashes between two political parties. At least five persons were wounded.

These are the unofficial results for Naushahro Feroz as of Monday night

Shahdadkot

At least eight people were injured in clashes between the workers of PPP and an independent candidate in Shahdadkot’s UC number 50 polling station Kot Jahrio.

These are the unofficial results for Shahdadkot as of Monday night

Jacobabad

PSP candidate Zaheer Jakhrani has alleged that the SHO beat him after he tried to stop the fake casting of votes in the polling station. The SHO had detained the candidate.

At least two people were injured in clashes between supporters of PPP and independent candidates at Jacobabad’s Union Council Jangu. Independent candidate for district council Farooq Khoso was apparently kidnapped during the clashes that led to disruption in the polling process, sources said.

Unofficial results

Ghotki

In violation of election rules, people were seen using mobile phones in the polling booths and making videos while casting votes.

Kashmore

Voter turnout was 40% to 50%, according to estimates. These are the unofficial results for Kashmore as of Monday evening: