Six killed as Pakistan votes to elect new government
Islamabad, July 25 : Six persons, including a political worker, were killed and several injured on Wednesday in sporadic incidents of violence as millions of voters queued up outside polling stations across Pakistan to elect a new government.
While polling stations officially opened for voting at 8 a.m., enthusiastic citizens queued up outside their respective stations as early as 7 a.m, Dawn News website said. Polling stations will remain open for voting till 6 p.m. and counting is being done simultaneously.
Results are expected to trickle in immediately after the polling ends with the final outcome likely by Thursday morning or afternoon, according to election officials.
The website reported that five people were killed and 12 injured in a blast that took place in Quetta. Polling was underway at a school nearby, when a police van was targeted in the attack, it said.
A Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) worker was killed and two others injured as party activists clashed with Awami National Party (ANP) workers outside a polling station in Nawan Kali in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's Swabi.
The workers of the two parties clashed in Mardan as well. Several people have been injured in the firing incident. Following the clash, police took control of the affected area, the Dawn reported.
Two people were also injured in a firing incident in Dera Murad Jamali in Balochistan.
In a separate incident, four people were injured in a blast outside a political camp in Larkana, in Sindh province, the home of the Bhutto family, reported Express Tribune.
Independent candidate Jibran Nasir said that Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan supporters attacked a facilitation camp he had set up in Chandio Village in Karachi.
As many as 12,570 candidates are contesting for a total of 849 seats of national and provincial assemblies in the general election. Nearly 106 million people are eligible to vote.
The battle is set to come down to three parties: Shahbaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Imran Khan's PTI.
In an effort to increase voter participation the Election Commission of Pakistan has declared a public holiday on Wednesday.
Prominent people who cast their votes include former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Mustafa Kamal and chief of the Pak Sarzameen Party.
Over four lakh security personnel have been deployed at polling stations across the country to maintain law and order and take action against harassment, after the nation witnessed one of the bloodiest campaigning on July 13.
According to a poll official, 5,878 polling stations have been declared "highly sensitive" -- official euphemism to mean they are prone to violence -- in Sindh; 5,487 in Punjab and Islamabad; 3,874 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA and 1,768 in Balochistan.
According to the reports, women voters were being denied the right to vote in PK-65 constituency of Nowshehra in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
Geo TV said a suspicious person was detained when he tried to enter Karachi's Lyari Bihar Colony polling station in NA-246, claiming to be a police officer.
"The suspicious person has been taken to Chakewara Police Station," a police officer said, adding that the polling process was halted for about 20 minutes.
The elections are being held as emotions run over a graft case that led to the imprisonment of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam.
Sharif's PML-N has condemned the legal cases facing its members, and reported pressures to leave the party along with harassment to prevent it from returning to power after its absolute majority in 2013.
These elections are the second in Pakistan's history in which a government was able to complete its term to make way for another government after being ruled by military dictators for half of the 71 years of its existence since its founding in 1947.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Shivakumar urges centre to intervene on Alamatti dam height issue
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Tuesday urged the Centre to intervene and allow Karnataka to raise the height of the Almatti dam across the Krishna river.
He also said that he will lead an all-party delegation to Delhi in this regard.
Noting that all three states -- Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra -- have opposed the project, he said the Andhra Pradesh government has asked the Centre not to allow Karnataka acquire land for the proposed project to increase the dam's height from 519 meters to 524 meters.
"Andhra Pradesh government has written to the Centre asking it to refrain from giving any approval or gazette notification that allows Karnataka to carry out land acquisition for the proposed project stating the matter is pending before the Supreme Court," Shivakumar, who is also the state's water resources minister said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, the Union Water Resources Secretary has sought Karnataka's response. "We will reply to it after consulting legal experts."
"I did not expect Andhra Pradesh to react this way. (Andhra Pradesh CM) Chandrababu Naidu is an experienced politician; he is aware of everything, but they are now putting such pressure on the centre. I'm unable to understand this," he said.
Noting that the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II (KWDT-II) award permitted Karnataka to raise the dam to 524 metres and that there was no stay from the Supreme Court, the Deputy CM said and appealed to the Centre to act in accordance with earlier orders.
He also appealed to all the parliament members of Karnataka to put pressure on the central government in this regard, in the interest of the state.
"I will be sending all the details and records to our MPs; we need to build pressure on the centre, Prime Minister and the Union Jal Shakti minister on the issue when the Parliament session begins on March 10," he said, adding that he also plans to lead an all-party delegation to Delhi in this regard.
Pointing out that the Karnataka cabinet, on September 16, 2025, decided to acquire 1.33 lakh acres of land for this project in one go, through consent acquisition, and planned to allocate Rs 70,000 crore for land acquisition in three phases, Shivakumar said, adding, "Now obstacles are being caused to it."
Further delays would escalate costs, he said, as land compensation has become a major burden, with courts awarding higher payouts after farmers rejected earlier offers of Rs 8-9 lakh per acre during the previous BJP government.
"After deliberations, compensation is fixed in the range of Rs 35-40 lakh per acre, with some awards reaching Rs 10 crore because of litigations," he said, adding that around Rs 20,000 crore has already been spent on the project.
Asserting that it is "our water, our land", Shivakumar said, "I appeal to Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra not to interfere in this project; it is not good for you."
