Campaigning ends, ECP finalises arrangements for by-elections

Dunya News

ECP has finalized necessary arrangements for holding by-elections in 35 constituencies on Sunday.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - Campaigning for the bye-elections in 35 constituencies across the country ended on midnight falling between October 12 and October 13 and all necessary arrangements have been made for the polling which will be held on Sunday (October 14), Dunya News reported.

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has completed all necessary arrangements for by-elections to be held on 11 National Assembly seats and 24 seats from provincial assemblies included 11 seats for Punjab Assembly, nine for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and two each for Sindh and Balochistan.

Election Commission of Pakistan on Friday has stated that Pakistan Army will take control of the security during by-elections on October 14. The officers will be deployed inside and outside the polling stations under Article 220 and 245 of the Constitution. They will continue to perform their duties till October 15.

On the other hand, a special security plan has been chalked out to ensure foolproof security for sensitive polling station on by-election day.

According to an official of ECP, the ballot papers for all constituencies in both the National and Provincial assemblies have been printed. The official said that as many as 122 candidates have been contesting bye-election in 11 constituencies of National Assembly.

He said that 28 candidates have been contesting election from NA-131 Lahore-IX, 10 candidates from NA-124 Lahore-II, 12 candidates from NA-103 Faisalabad-III, eight candidates from NA-35 Bannu, 22 candidates from NA-243 Karachi East-II, 11 candidates from NA-69 Gujrat-II, three candidates from NA-65 Chakwal-II, five candidates from NA-63 Rawalpindi-VII, nine candidates from NA-60 Rawalpindi-IV, three candidates from NA-56 Attock-II and 11 candidates from NA-53 Islamabad-II.

He said that the commission has already issued amended voters’ lists to the districts concerned as the polling will be held on new electoral rolls.

He said that 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.

He said that 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.

He said that in Punjab, the male voters were 33,690,140 while female voters were 27,007,278. 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 were 407,801 and the female voters were 358,659.

The official said that a 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.

He said the commission has planned special security measures to ensure security of voters for having better turnout. He said that foolproof security arrangements have been planned with deployment of security personnel at polling stations to ensure smooth polling process.