The voting for the by-elections on 35 constituencies of National and provincial assemblies started at 8 PM while all necessary arrangements have been made for the polling.
The polling will continue till 5 pm, however, after 5 pm only those voters, already present within polling station premises, will be permitted to cast their votes.
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has finalised all necessary arrangements for holding by-elections in 35 constituencies on October 14.
The election will be held on 11 National Assembly seats and 24 seats from provincial assemblies including 11 seats for Punjab Assembly, nine for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and two each for Sindh and Balochistan.
Ballot papers have been handed over to the presiding officers, which will be distributed under the supervision of the Pakistan Army.
The national assembly constituencies where the elections will be held include NA-35 Bannu, NA-53 Islamabad, NA-56 Attock, NA-60 Rawalpindi, NA-63 Rawalpindi, NA-65 Chakwal, NA-69 Gujrat, NA-103 Faisalabad, NA 124 Lahore, NA-131 Lahore and NA 243 Karachi East.
A total of 370 candidates are in the run for the elections to be held on eleven National Assembly and 24 Provincial Assemblies seats.
The Punjab Assembly constituencies where the by polls will be held are: PP-3 Attock, PP-27 Jhelum, PP-103 Faisalabad, PP-118 Toba Tek Singh, PP-164 Lahore, PP 165 Lahore, PP 201 Sahiwal, PP 222 Multan, PP 261 Rahim Yaar Khan, PP-272 Muzaffargarh and PP-292 D.G. Khan.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the by polls will be held in PK-3 Swat, Pk-7 Swat, PK-44 Swabi, PK-53 Mardan, PK-61 Nowshera, PK-64 Nowshera, PK-78 Peshawar, PK-97 Dera Ismail Khan and PK-99 Dera Ismail Khan.
By polls on two constituencies each of Sindh Assembly and Balochistan will also be held. These are PS-87 Malir, PS-30 Khairpur, PB-35 Mastung and PB-40 Khuzdar.
Registered Voters
The commission has already issued amended voters’ lists to the districts concerned as the polling will be held on new electoral rolls.
The total registered voters in the country have reached the figure of 106,000,239 with 59,243,889 male (55.89 percent) and 46,756,350 female (44.11 percent) voters. Out of total registered voters, 60,697,418 were from Punjab, 22,394,212 voters from Sindh, 17,839,845 voters from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (including FATA), 4,302,304 voters from Balochistan and 766,460 voters from federal capital.
In Punjab, the male voters were 33,690,140 while female voters were 27,007,278, while in Sindh, the male voters were 12,438,375 while female voters were 9,955,837. Similarly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the male voters were 10,220,103 while the female voters were 7,619,742. In Balochistan, the male voters were 2,487,470 while the female voters were 1,814,834 while in federal capital the male voters 407,801 and the female voters were 358,659.
Security Plan
Special security plan has been chalked out to ensure foolproof security for sensitive polling station on polling day. He added the security plan will be implemented in coordination with the provincial governments and departments concerned as the commission has planned special security measures to ensure security of voters for having better turnout.
Foolproof security arrangements have been planned with deployment of security personnel at polling stations to ensure smooth polling process.
To ensure effective security arrangements on by-election day and conducive environment for voters, Islamabad police have decided to deploy more than 3000 policemen outside the polling stations in NA-53.
SSP Islamabad Syed Mohammad Amin Bukhari said that a total of 3000 policemen would perform security duties on polling day in Capital while NA-53 has been divided into four zones, six sectors and nine sub-sectors. Every zone would be supervised by an officer of SP level while sectors and sub-sectors will be headed by ASP/SDPOs and Station House Officers receptively.
Out of 315 polling stations, six has been declared extreme sensitive, 30 sensitive while remaining 279 polling stations have been declared normal as per security point of view. A main control room has been set up at Safe City Project area while three wireless control rooms have been established.
ECP appeals candidates to follow law
The ECP requested the political parties and candidates to follow the provisions of law and exercise self-restraint so that the poll would be held in an orderly and peaceful manner on October 14.
It has also issued voters pass to successful registered 7,364 I-voters for bye-elections. He added these voters passes were issued during the registration process of I-voters through their email ID.
7,364 eligible I-voters
Overseas Pakistanis will vote for the first time in the by-polls. The commission said that as many as 7,364 eligible I-voters have received their voters’ passes for bye-election being held today in 35 constituencies.
The commission had issued voters passes to these successful registered overseas Pakistanis during the registration process of I-voters through their email ID and all registered I-voters would be able to cast their vote in bye-elections.
The registered I-voters will be responsible to protect the information of voter pass and the I-voters should avoid sharing any information about their log in and voter pass with anyone for safety of such information.
The ECP had started registration of overseas Pakistani voters from September 1 for giving them right to vote in bye-polls. All overseas Pakistanis had been asked to register themselves as voters by due date.
The commission had also extended the date for registration of overseas Pakistanis from September 15 to September 17 for exercising their right of casting vote in bye-elections.
ECP establishes control room for Overseas Pakistanis
The Election Commission of Pakistan has established a control room for guidance of Overseas Pakistanis in By-Elections.
The ECP advised those overseas Pakistanis, who have not yet received voting password, to contact the control room at 0092512778899.
It said that voters would not be allowed to cast their votes without password.
