Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 25 Jul 2018, 08:39 am Print
Islamabad: Globally designated terrorist and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed was seen exercising his voting right on Wednesday in Pakistan.
The south Asian country is presently undergoing general polls to decide its new federal government.
Saeed's appearance has triggered strong reactions from Indian politicians.
Union Minister Hansraj Ahir was quoted by ANI news agency as saying: "Hafiz Saeed is a terrorist. Pakistan's democracy is in danger because of these kind of people."
The 68-year-old Saeed, who had aspired to contest this year's elections, decided against it later.
However, he has fielded more than 200 candidates in the ongoing polls.
Saeed's group is contesting the polls as Allaha-u-Akbar Tehreek (AAT) party, which is registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Nearly 106 million registered voters are expected to vote on Wednesday.
Voting commenced at 8 am and will continue till 6 pm in the evening.
"As many as 12,570 candidates are contesting for a total of 849 seats of national and provincial assemblies in the general election," reported Geo News.
Voting is taking place across 85,307 polling stations in Pakistan.
Before the elections, the campaigning period witnessed terror attacks which even left several candidates killed.
At least 31 people were killed and another 35 injured in a suspected suicide attack outside a polling station Pakistan's in Quetta, the capital city of Balochistan, on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, former cricketer turned politician Imran Khan of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, is eyeing to win the election and take office for the first time.
The election is a close contest between jailed former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), former President Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Khan's PTI.
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