Daily Times

A tough competition is being expected on NA-44 (DI Khan-I) constituency in the upcoming general elections scheduled to be held on February 08, 2024. Among total 23 candidates, three heavyweights of national politics including Jamiat Ulema Islam Fazl (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Central Information Secretary Faisal Karim Kundi and former federal minister Ali Amin Gandapur also thrown their hats into the ring for the elections on this constituency. The electoral battleground comprised areas including Tehsil Paharpur, Tehsil Dera Ismail Khan, Cantt, Shorkot, Chehkan, Katla Syedaan and others. This constituency, consisting 57 village and 129 neighborhood councils, has about 772267 population and a total 391882 registered voters including 208481 males and 183401 females. For polling, as many as 358 polling stations including 126 for men, 115 for women and 117 combined were being established in this constituency. While, a total of 1172 polling booths were being established including 635 male and 537 female. The political candidates running their electoral campaigns at designated places with making attractive slogans to catch the attention of voters. It worth to mention here that in the previous elections, Ali Amin Gandapur had defeated Maulana Fazlur Rehman with a huge margin in general election-2018 on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ticket. However, Gandapur is now contesting election as an independent candidate. Some of the major issues being faced by the citizens of this constituency included power loadshedding, lack of proper health facilities, unavailability clean drinking water, poor cleanliness and sewerage system, poor road infrastructure in the city and others.