Voting underway for NA-75 Daska by-election

Polling for the NA-75 seat in the National Assembly started 8 am and will continue till 5 pm.

DASKA (Dunya News) - Voting for the National Assembly constituency NA-75 Daska by-election is underway as a close contest is expected between PTI’s Ali Asjad Malhi and PML-N’s Nosheen Iftikhar.

Polling for the NA-75 seat in the National Assembly started 8 am and will continue till 5 pm. Pakistan Rangers personnel are deployed along with police at the polling stations while the Pakistan Army is on standby.

Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja is present in the Election Commission Office Punjab to personally monitor the by-elections and a control room has also been set up in the Sialkot Commissioner’s Office in this regard.

ECP issues show-cause notices to PML-N MPA, Firdous Ashiq over election code violation

ECP has issued show-cause notice to a Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Zeeshan Rafiq and Special Assistant to Punjab Chief Minister on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan over the violation of election code of conduct during NA-75 Daska by-elections.

PTI workers stopped Zeeshan Rafiq when he arrived in the constituency and told him that he could not visit the constituency as he is a lawmaker.

Police officials who were stationed there for security directed Rafiq to leave the premises of the constituency.

ECP issued notice to the PML-N legislator for visiting the NA-75 constituency when the election commission barred all lawmakers to pay a visit during the voting process.

The commission also served show cause notice to PTI leader Firdous Ashiq Awan for holding a press conference in the NA-75 constituency and announcing development projects for the area. ECP has directed her to submit response within two days hours.

It is pertinent to mention here that the NA-75 seat fell vacant after the death of PML-N MNA Syed Iftikharul Hassan alias Zahry Shah in August 2020. The by-poll was delayed for six months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ECP had withheld the results of the Feb 19 by-poll in Daska due to violence, rigging and the disappearance of over 20 presiding officers and ordered a re-election in the entire constituency. The order was later challenged by PTI in Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Supreme Court rejected the PTI’s appeal against the ECP decision to hold re-election in the entire Daska constituency.

“We have decided that we cannot accept this appeal,” pronounced Justice Bandial in a packed-to-capacity courtroom when the lawyers of the contesting parties concluded their arguments. Justice Bandial also dropped hints that the case was not simple and said the court wanted to lay down guidelines regarding future conduct of the elections in the country as well as the exercise of its jurisdiction by the ECP.