Polling for the by-election for the National Assembly seat NA-249 began earlier this morning at 8 am. The seat was vacated by PTI’s Faisal Vawda after he presented his resignation. The polling will be continued uninterrupted until 5 pm. The government of Sindh announced a public holiday for the facilitation of the voters. The Election Commission of Pakistan has deployed special staff for strict implementation of coronavirus guidelines as long as the polling process continues. There are 30 candidates in the electoral arena, including PML-N’s Miftah Ismail, PTI’s Amjad Afridi, PPP’S Qadir Khan Mandokhel, Karachi’s former mayor Mustafa Kamal and MQM’s Hafiz Mursaleen, besides 18 independent candidates. The number of registered voters in the constituency is 339,591 out of which 201,656 are male and 137,935 are female voters who will cast their right of the vote today. Keeping in mind the worsening COVID-19 situation in the country, the Election Commission of Pakistan directed the Karachi administration to deploy staff to ensure the implementation of SOPs.