Campaign for NA-237, NA-239 by-polls ends

Security of highly volatile constituencies reviewed

KARACHI:

The campaign for the by-elections in the two constituencies of the National Assembly in Karachi ended at midnight.

Polling for NA-237 Malir and NA-239 Korangi will be held on Sunday 8am to 5pm without any break.

The NA-237 and NA-239 had fallen vacant when Jameel Ahmad Khan and Mohammad Akram Cheema resigned respectively.

All the polling stations are classified as sensitive or highly sensitive, not a single polling station is normal in these politically volatile areas. According to the code of conduct, all candidates participating in the election are prohibited from ending their campaigning 48 hours before polling.

Chief Secretary Sindh Dr. Muhammad Sohail Rajput on Thursday chaired a meeting to review the security plan for holding by-elections on two National Assembly seats in Karachi peacefully.

The meeting was briefed about the security and other arrangements for by-polls in NA 237 Malir and NA 239 Korangi scheduled to be held on Sunday, October 16, a statement said on Thursday.

The meeting was attended by provincial election commissioner Ejaz Anwar Chauhan, secretaries of home, school and college education departments, commissioner Karachi, IG Sindh Police Ghulam Nabi Memon, Additional IG Karachi and others. The CS said CCTV cameras would be installed at the polling stations and directed the Commissioner Karachi and the concerned deputy commissioners to visit all the polling stations and review the arrangements.

Chauhan said that all the political parties were informed about code of conduct in a meeting with their representatives and they gave assurance for the compliance.

IG Memon while briefing the meeting on security arrangements informed that a security plan had been prepared for the by-elections in Korangi and Malir and the same has also been shared with the Election Commission.

He said 5,144 police officers will perform duties in the by-elections and 10 police personnel would be deployed on each polling station while in case of any untoward incident, police and rangers personnel would control the situation as quick response force (QRF).

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2022.