ISLAMABAD: Polling for the 2024 by-elections in 21 constituencies, which includes 5 seats of National Assembly and 16 seats of Provincial Assembly, has largely peacefully completed and not counting has started in all constituencies.
Earlier, The polling began 8 am and will continue till five in the evening without any break.
A total of 239 candidates are competing for the National and Provincial Assembly seats. By-elections in the constituencies of the National Assembly include 2 constituencies of Punjab, 2 constituencies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 1 constituency of Sindh.
On the other hand, the seats for provincial assemblies include 12 seats of Punjab Assembly, 2 seats of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one of Balochistan Assembly.
Where are by-polls being held?
Punjab AssemblyBy-elections will be held in 12 constituencies of the Punjab Assembly, including PP 22 Chakwal Kam Tala Gang, PP 32 Gujrat, PP 36 Wazirabad, PP 54 Narrwal, PP 93 Bhakkar, PP 139 Sheikhupura, PP 147 in Lahore, pp 149, pp 158, pp 164, pp 266 Rahim Yar Khan and pp 290 DG Khan.
2,601 polling stations have been established in Punjab in which more than 4.044 million voters will exercise their right to vote.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
191 candidates are competing for 2 seats, PK 22 Bajaur and PK 91 Kohat, of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.
More than 2.55 million voters will exercise their right to vote to elect public representatives.
Balochistan
By-elections on 2 seats of Balochistan, including PB 20 Khuzdar and PB 22 Lasbela, are underway, while repolling in PB 50 Qila Abdullahis also being conducted today.
Sindh
The by-elections are being held in the National Assemly constituency NA-196 Qamber Shadadkot. This seat was vacated by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
Lahore
With a total number of 530,167 voters exercising their right to vote, by-polling at one national and four provincial assemblies are underway.
In NA-119, Ali Pervez Malik of PML-N and Shehzad Farooq of Sunni Unity Council are competing along with seven others, which includes Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan's (TLP) candidate Muhammad Zaheer and six independent candidates.
A total of 338 polling stations have been setup in NA-119. 89 have been setup for men and as many for women while the remaining were combined.
Approval of deployment of troops
The federal government approved the deployment of troops for security purposes after the election Commission (EC) made the request.Code of conduct for security personnel
A code of conduct for the security personal was released the EC for the ongoing 2024 by-elections.The security personnel will be deployed outside each polling station where they will ensure peaceful elections. Additionally, they will also assist the EC officials.
On the other hade, while issuing the code of conduct for the Pakistan Armed Forces and Civil Forces, the EC said that the personnel will be stationed outside the polling stations that are highly sensitive.
The code of conduct also states that Civil Armed Forces and Pakistan Army officials will not seize election materials and will inform the Election Commission Officer concerned about election irregularities.
Suspension of Internet, Cellular Services
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said that the internet and cellular services will remain suspended in the districts of Punjab and Baluchistan.According to PTA, the decision was taken to ensure safe and smooth process of the 2024 by-elections.
A day earlier, the federal government also announced the suspension of the cellular services in the above mention regions on April 21-22.
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