India congratulates Afghanistan as presidential polls end

 India on Sunday congratulated Afghanistan on the successful conduct of its presidential elections, saying these were an "important milestone in the people's efforts to promote peace, security, stability, prosperity and democracy in their country".

In a statement, India commended "the people, the government and the security forces of Afghanistan for the successful conduct of Presidential elections on September 28 amidst challenging circumstances".

"We congratulate the Afghan people for once again demonstrating their faith in democratic governance and constitutional processes despite threats, intimidation and violence. These elections are an important milestone in people's efforts to promote peace, security, stability, prosperity and democracy in their country," the statement said.

Afghans across the country cast their votes in the third presidential election on Saturday by defying threats from militants who vowed to disrupt the process at any cost.

According to Tolo News, polling closed in Afghanistan's presidential election on Saturday evening amid complaints about technical issues, pockets of violence and some irregularities that marred the process, such as registered voters not finding their names on voting lists.

Election Commission chief Hawa Alam Nuristani told TOLOnews that despite security and technical problems, "we had a good election".

According to security officials attacks or other incidents took place in 13 provinces, including Kabul, with five people killed while 76 were wounded. Most incidents involved rockets fired at polling centres.IANS