Daily Times

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has finalised arrangements to hold by-elections in 21 constituencies of national and provincial assemblies.

The polling will be held from 8am till 5pm without any break. The returning officers will hand over election material to presiding officers from their camp offices today (Saturday). Strict security arrangements have been made for by-elections. Meanwhile, mobile and internet services will remain closed in 13 cities of Punjab during the by-elections. The Punjab Home Department has written a letter to the Ministry of Interior seeking closure of internet.

The mobile and internet services will remain closed in Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Talagang, Gujrat, Alipur, Zafarwal, Bhakkar, Chakwal, Sadiqabad, Alipur Chattha and Kot Chattha. On request of the ECP, the federal government has approved deployment of Pakistan Army and Civil Armed Forces (CAF) troops. The government would use the armed forces’ units as a quick response force. The Ministry of Interior has issued an order in this regard. The notification mentions 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.

“The exact number of troops, date/period, area and mode of deployment would be worked out by the ECP in consultation with all concerned stakeholders based on ground requirement/ assessment. The date of de-requisitioning of the said deployment will be decided subsequently after mutual consultation among all stakeholders,” the notification stated.

The polling will be held for five national and 16 provincial assembly seats on April 21 (Sunday). Elections were originally scheduled for 23 constituencies. However, the results of two of those seats, one provincial and one national, have already been announced.

Aseefa Bhutto Zardari was elected unopposed in NA-207 Shaheed Benazirabad, while Zubair Ahmad Junejo has been elected in PS-80 Dadu. The National Assembly seats on which by-polls will take place are NA-8 Bajaur, NA-44 Dera Ismail Khan-I, NA-119 Lahore-III, NA-132 Kasur-II, NA-196 Kamber Shadadkot-I and NA-207 Shaheed Benazirabad-I.

The elections on NA-8 Bajaur and PK-22 Bajaur-IV were suspended after a candidate contesting as independent on these constituencies in the general election was shot dead.

Meanwhile, NA-44 seat fell vacant after KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur opted to retain his provincial seat from DI Khan. The NA-119 Lahore-III seat was vacated by Maryam Nawaz after she opted to retain the provincial seat which she had won, while NA-132 Kasur seat fell vacant after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif decided to retain his NA-123 Lahore-VII seat.

PM Shehbaz had also won Punjab Assembly seats PP-158 and PP-164 but since he retained his NA seat, the provincial assembly seats fell vacant. Moreover, the NA seats from Sindh’s constituencies, NA-196 Kamber Shadadkot-I and NA-207 Shaheed Benazirabad-I, were vacated after Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto retained the seat he won in Larkana, while President Asif Ali Zardari gave up his seat following his election as the head of state.

The other provincial assembly seats on which by-polls will be held are Punjab’s PP-22 Chakwal-cum-Talagang, PP-32 Gujrat-VI, PP-36 Wazirabad-II, PP-54 Narowal-|, PP-93 Bhakkar-V, PP-139 Sheikhupura-IV, PP-147 Lahore-III, PP-149 Lahore-V, PP-158 Lahore-XIV, PP-164 Lahore-XX, PP-266 Rahim Yar Khan-XII, PP-290 Dera Ghazi Khan-V; KP’s PK-22 Bajaur-IV, PK-91 Kohat-II; Balochistan’s PB-20 Khuzdar-III, PB-22 Lasbela; and Sindh’s PS-80 Dadu-I.

As many as 174 candidates are in the fray in the by-elections for 12 provincial constituencies from Punjab where the number of voters is 4,044,552 and 2,601 polling stations have been established. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, there are 1,471,000 voters in the by-elections for two provincial constituencies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 49 candidates are in the field for which 892 polling stations have been established, of which 139 are sensitive. In NA-196 in Sindh, two candidates are in the fray, 423,781 voters will exercise their right to vote and 303 polling stations have been set up, out of which 158 are sensitive.

According to the ECP, by-elections will be held for two provincial constituencies 20 and 22 in Balochistan, 396,246 voters will exercise their right to vote in the province, and 354 polling stations have been established. Nine candidates including Ali Pervaiz and Shehzad Farooq are competing from National Assembly NA -119 while 11 candidates including PML-N candidate Malik Riaz and PTI-backed Muhammad Khan Madani are competing in PP-147.