Pakistan Elections: Imran Khan casts vote through postal ballot

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and other political leaders who are currently incarcerated have cast their votes through a postal ballot from Adiala Jail, Pakistan-based Dawn reported, citing sources.

People in Pakistan began voting on Thursday, with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and other leaders of the party, including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, currently in prison.

Other leaders who have managed to vote through mail include Pakistan’s former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid, and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry.

Imran Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, was unable to vote as she was convicted and arrested after the completion of the postal voting process. Fewer than 100 prisoners of Adiala Jail were able to vote, which implies that about one per cent of the jail’s 7000 inmates, according to Dawn report.

The Jail administration allowed only those inmates to vote who had valid computerised national identity cards (CNICs), Dawn reported, citing sources. The reason behind the low turnout was that an overwhelming majority of the prisoners did not have the original CNIC.