Senators and members of the National and Provincial Assemblies
of Pakistan are cast their votes in the presidential elections on
Saturday, the state-run PTV channel reported.
The polling started at 10?AM?(0500 GMT) and will
continue till 3?PM (1000 GMT) at the National Assembly hall
and provincial assemblies in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and
Quetta.
A total of 34 members of Provincial Assembly in North West
Frontier Province (NWFP) have arrived to cast their votes for the
presidential elections, and 38 parliamentarians have taken part in
the polling in Balochistan assembly.
The security is tight in the capital Islamabad and four
provincial capitals with deployment of heavy police force outside
the assemblies buildings.
Around 200 legislators of the All Parties Democratic Movement,
an alliance of the main opposition parties in Pakistan, have
resigned from the National and Provincial assemblies, aiming at
protesting President Pervez Musharraf's re-election.
A major opposition party People's Party (PPP), led by former
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, stayed out of the resignation.
However, PPP decided to abstain from the voting for the
presidential elections on Saturday in the National and Provincial
assemblies.
The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice on the petitions
filed by two presidential candidates, retired judge Wajihuddin
Ahmed and Makhdoom Mohammad Amin Faheem from PPP. The notice said
that the presidential elections would be held per schedule while
the election commission was not allowed to issue the final
notification of the election results before a final verdict was
given. The Supreme Court will resume hearing the petitions on
October 17.
(Xinhua News Agency October 6, 2007)
