All Set for Today’s By-Elections in 21 Constituencies

APP

Islamabad: Preparations have been finalized for the upcoming by-elections on 5 National and 16 provincial Assembly seats across Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan, set to take place this Sunday. Heightened security measures have been put in place to address any potential incidents.

Polling will proceed without interruption from 8 am to 5 pm for seats vacated by candidates who won multiple seats or where polling was delayed in the February 8 general elections due to the death of a candidate.

The polling will cover 5 National Assembly seats, 12 Punjab Assembly seats, two Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly seats, and two Balochistan Assembly seats. Additionally, repolling in PB 50 Kalla Abdullah will be conducted on Sunday, as announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The polling for NA-8 Bajaur and PK-22 Bajaur was postponed on February 8 following the assassination of a candidate, Rehan Zeb Khan.

Furthermore, polling will take place in NA-44 Dera Ismail Khan, where the National Assembly seat was relinquished by Ali Amin Gandapur, who chose to retain his provincial assembly seat to assume the role of KP’s chief minister.

Similarly, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has vacated her NA-119 seat in Lahore, opting instead to retain the PP-159 constituency that she also won.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif won elections on two provincial and National Assembly seats. He left the NA-132 Kasur and Lahore’s PP-158 and PP-164 seats vacant, preferring to retain the NA-123 Lahore constituency.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari secured two National Assembly seats. He retained the NA-194 Larkana constituency, leaving the NA-196 seat in Qamber Shahdadkot vacant.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has provided 6.23 million ballot papers to the relevant Returning Officers (ROs) for the upcoming by-elections in 21 constituencies.

Approximately 2.55 million Pakistanis are expected to participate in voting for the five National Assembly constituencies, while around 3.61 million individuals will cast their votes for 16 provincial assembly seats nationwide.

A total of 174 candidates are contesting in the by-elections for 12 provincial constituencies in Punjab, where the voter count stands at approximately 4.04 million.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, the by-elections for two provincial constituencies of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have a total of 1.47 million voters.

In the race, there are 49 candidates, and 892 polling stations have been set up, with 139 identified as sensitive.

In NA-196 in Sindh, two candidates will compete, with 423,781 voters eligible to cast their ballots across 303 polling stations, 158 of which are sensitive, according to the ECP.

The ECP has announced that by-elections will take place for two provincial constituencies, PB-20 and PB-22, in Balochistan. A total of 396,246 voters in the province will participate, with 354 polling stations designated for the process.

Nine candidates, including Ali Pervaiz and Shehzad Farooq, are vying for the National Assembly seat NA-119, while 11 candidates, including PML-N nominee Malik Riaz independent Muhammad Khan Madani, are competing in PP-147.

Additionally, 14 candidates, including Muhammad Shoaib Siddiqui and Qaiser Shehzad from the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party, are contesting in PP-149. In PP-158, there are 22 candidates, with Chaudhry Nawaz and Moonis Elahi of the Sunni Unity Council among them.

Furthermore, PP-164 has 20 candidates in the fray, with PML-N leader Rashid Minhas and Muhammad Yusuf of the Sunni Ittehad Council among the contenders.