Polling for the by-elections on 21 National and provincial assembly seats began on Sunday (today) amid high security and temporarily suspended internet and cellular services in several districts of Punjab and Balochistan.
The voting for the by-polls started at 8am and will continue till 5pm today.
The federal government has suspended cellular services temporarily in specific districts of Punjab and Balochistan during the by-elections owing to the security situation.
In this regard, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) issued a statement, saying that the decision to suspend the internet and cellular services was taken to “safeguard the integrity and security of the electoral process”.
Army deployed during by-polls
Meanwhile, at the request of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the federal government has approved the deployment of Pakistan Army and Civil Armed Forces (CAF) troops during the polling process.
The government said that it would use the armed forces units as a quick response force.
The notification mentioned that the CAF and Pakistan Army units would be used as second and third tiers of security and they would be available with immediate effect till April 22 in 21 constituencies.
Where are by-polls being held?
The elections are being held on five NA seats, 12 Punjab Assembly seats, two each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan Assemblies and one in Sindh Assembly.
The NA seats include NA-8 and NA-44 (KP) NA-119 and NA-132 (Punjab) and NA-196 (Sindh). Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has won one seat in the form of NA-207, Nawabshah from where Aseefa Bhutto Zardari has been elected unopposed.
The provincial assembly seats include PK-22 and PK-91 (KP), PB-20 and PB-22 (Balochistan) and PS-80 (Sindh). The Punjab Assembly seats where the by-polls are taking place include PP-32 (Gujrat), PP-36 (Wazirabad), PP-54 (Narowal), PP-93 (Bhakkar), PP-139 (Sheikhupura), PP-147, PP-149, PP-158, PP-164 (Lahore), PP-266 (Rahim Yar Khan) and PP-290 (Dera Ghazi Khan).
The NA-119 (Lahore) was vacated by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Ali Pervez Malik is up against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) Shahzad Farooq for the seat.
Moreover, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) candidate Muhammad Zaheer and six independent candidates are also vying for the seat.
Meanwhile, elections are also being held on PP-147 (Lahore), which was vacated by PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz. PML-N’s Malik Riaz, SIC’s Muhammad Madni, Shahrukh Jamal, TLP’s Muhammad Yasin and eight independent candidates are aiming for the slot.
The seat PP-149 (Lahore) was vacated by Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party’s (IPP) Abdul Aleem Khan. IPP’s Shoaib Siddiqui, SIC’s Zeeshan Rashid, TLP’s Muhammad Zaheer and 11 independents are seeking to win the seat.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vacated NA-132 (Kasur) and two of his provincial assembly seats in Lahore, PP-158 and PP-164, while retaining his NA-123 seat in the National Assembly.
A very tough contest is expected in NA-132 on which SIC’s Muhammad Hussain Dogar is contesting against PML-N’s Malik Rasheed Ahmad Khan, whereas the TLP is also in contest.
PML-N’s Chaudhry Muhammad Nawaz, SIC’s Moonis Elahi, TLP’s Muhammad Munir and 19 independent candidates are vying for the PP-158 seat vacated by PM Shehbaz.
Meanwhile, SIC’s Muhammad Yousuf, PML-N’s Rashid Minhas are eyeing the PP-164 slot.
Meanwhile, in Sindh, voting is taking place on NA-196 (Qamber Shadadkot). This seat was vacated by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
In KP, the polling is taking place on NA-44 (Dera Ismail Khan) seat which was left vacant after Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur retained his provincial assembly seat, PK-113.
By-poll is also being conducted on the NA-8 (Bajaur) seat, the election for the seat was suspended ahead of the February 8 general elections after one of the candidates Rehan Zeb Khan was murdered.
