Counting of votes began in Pakistan after the polling, marred by violence and terror attacks, ended on Thursday evening. According to Interior Ministry, the mobile phone services have been partially restored in parts of the country.
Amid the unrest and violence in many constituencies, the government had suspended mobile and internet services across the nation.
Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja said internet suspension will not affect the compilation of election results. The electoral watchdog has an “exclusive and independent networking system”, said Raja.
A countrywide public holiday was declared to enable maximum voters to participate. The polling, the began at 8 am, started off with low voter turnout. The voting concluded by 5 pm, however, the polling percentage is not yet known.
A party must win 133 seats out of 265 being contested to form the next government.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party's Nawaz Sharif, 74, is likely to win the polls securing a record fourth term.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said it has resolved 76 poll-related complaints, which were received throughout the day. Complaints dominated scuffle between political workers and officials in various regions.
After the voting ended, Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said, "Even though the illegitimate, fascist regime tried every low tactic to scare & dissuade people from voting, the people of Pakistan came out today in unprecedented numbers to vehemently reject the system of oppression, lawlessness & fraud!".
A day after the twin blasts in Balochistan province, over 6,50,000 security personnel were deployed across the country.
Despite the mobile, internet suspension, a large number of people turned up for voting to elect lawmakers for national and provincial assemblies- on 855 constituencies.
As voting got underway in Pakistan, five people including four policemen were killed in attacks.
In the 2018 elections, overall voter turnout across the nation was 51.7 per cent.
