By-elections will be held in Punjab today after the time for election campaigning ended on Saturday.
According to sources from the local chapter of the Election Commission, a ban has been imposed on gatherings, processions, rallies, and corner meetings, as the by-elections will be held on six seats of the National Assembly and seven seats of the Punjab Assembly.
It should be noted that the federal government has approved the deployment of the army for security during the by-elections. Military troops will be present in the constituencies from November 22 to 24. The Ministry of Interior has also issued a notification for the deployment of the army. The Pakistan Army will be deployed as a third-tier force and as a quick reaction unit.
Military troops have been assigned the responsibility of maintaining law and order in the constituencies of Lahore, Faisalabad, Sahiwal, DG Khan, Muzaffargarh, Sargodha, Haripur, and Mianwali.
A tight contest is expected between PML-N’s Hafiz Noman and independent candidate Arsalan Ahmed in NA-129, while a close contest is likely between Omar Ayub’s wife and PML-N’s Babar Nawaz in NA-18 Haripur.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) barred media outlets from broadcasting unofficial results of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab by-elections until one hour after the close of polls.
The Commission directed that only Returning Officers are authorized to announce official results, warning that premature reporting could mislead the public.
It further stated that media organizations must not air or publish unofficial results until at least one hour after the close of polling, and any results released thereafter must be clearly marked as unofficial and incomplete.
The ECP cautioned that violations of these instructions would be referred to the relevant authorities for disciplinary action. It reiterated that the final and official result of any constituency will only be issued by the concerned Returning Officer.
By-elections are scheduled for 13 constituencies on Sunday (Nov 23), including six National Assembly (NA) seats and seven Punjab Assembly (PA) seats.
Separately, PTI leader Hammad Azhar on Saturday claimed that Form 45s are missing from the election material provided to presiding officers by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ahead of tomorrow’s by-election in Lahore’s NA-129 constituency.
The by-election is being held after the seat fell vacant in July following the death of Azhar’s father, Mian Azhar.
In a post on X, Hammad said: “We are receiving reports that multiple presiding officers are missing Form 45s in the election materials they have received from ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan) for the by-elections of tomorrow. This is a serious violation of the electoral process.”
The alarm came after he had earlier issued “important instructions” for his party’s polling agents about the forms.
“When the bags containing election materials are opened in the morning, make sure that the Forms 45 and Forms 46 in them are blank and shown to you. This is most important.”
The PTI leader stressed the importance of the polling agents’ presence during the polling and the counting processes. “The polling boxes must not be out of sight at any moment.”
Hammad further told the agents that it was their “right to obtain the Form-45 [filled] as per the count”, and that any staff who obstructed this would be liable to strict legal punishment.
He directed all PTI workers at the party camps outside the polling stations to remain there after the polling had ended and “peacefully follow the presiding officer to the returning officer’s (RO) office”.