ISLAMABAD: By-elections on twenty-one vacant seats of National and Provincial Assemblies commenced today with tight security measures in place to deal with any possible incident.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the polling is being held on five National Assembly seats, twelve Punjab Assembly seats, two seats of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, and two seats of the Balochistan Assembly.
Polling will continue till 5 pm without any break in constituencies where winning candidates have won multiple seats or where polling was delayed due to the death of a candidate in the February 8 general election.
The Election Commission has set up Election Monitoring and Control Centers to register and address public complaints during the by-elections, state-run Radio Pakistan reported. These Centers are located at provincial, divisional, and district levels, in addition to the Election Commission Secretariat in Islamabad.
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Mobile internet service suspended amid by-elections
The Interior Ministry has instructed the suspension of mobile internet services temporarily in specific districts of Punjab and Balochistan during the by-elections owing to the security situation.
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In this regard, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) issued a statement, saying that the decision to suspend the internet and cellular services was implemented to facilitate a fair and peaceful voting process.
Vacant seats after Feb 8 polls
The elections are being held on five NA seats, and 12 Punjab Assembly seats, two each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan Assemblies.
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 National Assembly (NA) seats include NA-8 and NA-44 (KP) NA-119 and NA-132 (Punjab) and NA-196 (Sindh).
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), re-polling is being held in NA-8 Bajaur and PK-22 Bajaur as it was postponed on February 8 after the murder of candidate Rehan Zeib Khan.
Additionally, polling will be held in NA-44 Dera Ismail Khan, where Ali Amin Gandapur vacated the National Assembly seat, choosing to retain his provincial assembly seat to assume the role of KP Chief Minister.
Similarly, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif vacated her NA-119 seat in the provincial capital of Lahore, choosing instead to retain the PP-159 constituency. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif won two provincial and national assembly seats in the elections. He kept NA 123 Lahore constituency by leaving the seats of NA 132 Kasur, PP 158, and PP 164 of Lahore vacant.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari won two NA seats and decided to retain NA-194 (Larkana) leaving the NA-196 seat in Qamber Shahdadkot vacant. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has allocated 6.23 million to the respective Returning Officers (ROs) for the upcoming by-elections in 21 constituencies.