Ali Tareen, Iqbal Shah fined as polling ends in Lodhran's NA-154 by-election
The polling time for NA-154 started at 8:00am and the results will be announced shortly
LODHRAN (Dunya News) – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) candidate Ali Tareen and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) candidate Iqbal Shah contest in the NA-154 by-election as the voting time has ended, and returning officer will announce the result after counting is completed.
Both leaders were fined for violating the code of conduct while polling in the Lodhran by-elections. While Tareen was fined Rs40,000, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) asked Shah to submit Rs50,000 as penalty.
According to the notification, Shah was fined because “as per reports received in the office of the DRO, Abdul Rehman Khan Kanju MNA/Minister of State appeared to have attended/addressed corner meetings for promoting election campaign of Muhammad Iqbal Shah.”
Ali Tareen was fined because “2018 Election Commission’s Monitoring Team reported to the undersigned that Imran Khan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Murad Saeed and Sheikh Rasheed (all MNA’s) attended and addressed a gathering in the constituency in the presence of Ali Khan Tareen.”
On the other hand, the polling that started at 8:00am will be continued till 5:00pm without interval.
At least 10 candidates are in the run for the seat. However, a close contest is expected between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Ali Khan Tareen s/o Jahangir Khan Tareen and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Pir Muhammad Iqbal Shah.
At least 431,000 voters will exercise their right to vote for whom 338 polling stations have been set up in the constituency. Over 2,000 police and military personnel will be deployed to ensure free and fair election.
The NA-154 seat fell vacant after the Supreme Court disqualified the PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen under Article 62 (1)(f) of the Constitution on December 15.
