Daily Times

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Over 100 candidates, including some big names, are contesting for 35 National Assembly and provincial assembly seats in the by-polls scheduled for October 14 (tomorrow), a private TV channel reported on Friday.

Seats up for the grab include 11 of the National Assembly, 11 of Punjab Assembly, nine of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and two each of Sindh and Balochistan assemblies.

Over five million registered voters – about 2.3 million women and over 2.7 million men – will exercise their right to vote on 11 NA seats. The National Assembly seats where by-polls will be conducted are: NA-35 Bannu; NA-53 Islamabad-II; NA-56 Attock-II; NA-60 Rawalpindi-IV; NA-63 Rawalpindi-VII; NA-65 Chakwal-II; NA-69 Gujrat-II, NA-103 Faisalabad-III; NA-124 Lahore-II; NA-131 Lahore-IX and NA-243 Karachi East-II.

Six of these 11 seats were won by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the July 25 general election and were later vacated by the party members. Prime Minister Imran Khan had won on four seats while party leaders Tahir Sadiq and Ghulam Sarwar Khan on one seat each.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Hamza Shehbaz has also vacated an NA seat to take up the role of opposition leader in Punjab Assembly, while two seats by Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) were vacated by Pervez Elahi to be elected as Punjab Assembly speaker.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had postponed general election on NA-60 after PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi was disqualified in a corruption case, and NA-103 where a candidate passed away before the election.

Those contesting the by-polls from NA-131 include PML-N’s Khawaja Saad Rafique, PTI’s Humayun Akhtar and Pakistan People’s Party’s Asim Mehmood.

From NA-124, former prime minister and PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, PTI’s Ghulam Moheyuddin Deewan and PPP’s Shehbaz Mehmood Bhatti are in the run. PML-N’s Ali Gohar Khan and PTI’s Saadullah will contest for the NA-103 seat.

In NA-243, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s Amir Waliuddin, PTI’s Alamgir Khan and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s Syed Nawaz are taking part in the contest.

Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rasheed’s nephew Sheikh Rashid Shafique and Pervez Elahi’s son Moonis Elahi are contesting from NA-69. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday said that Pakistan Army will take control of the security during the by-elections. The army officials will be deployed inside and outside the polling stations under Article 220 and 245 of the constitution. A special security plan has been chalked out to ensure fool proof security at sensitive polling station on the election day.

Published in Daily Times, October 13^th 2018.