All set for by-elections today

3,200 Army jawans deputed across south Punjab.

BAHAWALPUR/ MULTAN/ FAISALABAD/ SARGODHA:

By-polls are being held in south Punjab for two National Assembly and eight Provincial Assembly seats.

According to Inter Services Public Relations, 3,200 Army jawans have been deputed at sensitive polling stations in the south Punjab.

In NA-177 (Muzaffargarh), Ghulam Rabbani Khar of the Pakistan Peoples People, Shahid Mustafa Qureshi of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and 19 other candidates are in the fray. MNA Jamashed Dasti had won the general elections from this seat by beating Noor Rabbani Khar.

1,400 policemen had been deployed in the district.

In NA-71 Mianwali-I, Obaidullah Khan Shadi Khel of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Malik Waheed Khan of the PTI, Shaukat Pervez Khan of the PPP and five other candidates are competing each other.

The eight Provincial Assembly constituencies are: PP-193 (Okara), PP-254 (Kot Addu), PP-217 (Khanewal), PP-243 (DG Khan), PP-247 (Rajanpur), PP-210 (Lodhran) and PP-289 and PP-292 (Rahim Yar Khan).

PML-N’s Noorul Amin Nasir and PPP’s Khurram Wattoo are in contest from PP-193, PPP’s Mehar Irshad Sial and PML-N’s Hamad Nawaz Tipu from PP-254, PML-N’s Rana Babar Hussain and PTI’s Chaudhry Maqsood Alam from PP-21, PML-N’s Hassamuddin Khosa and his brother, PPP’s Saifuddin Khosa from PP-243, PML-N’s Abdul Qadir Mamdot and PTI’s Ali Raza Dareshak from PP-247, and PTI’s Saad Kaanju and PML-N’s Zubair Baloch from PP-210.

900 policemen have been deployed in Mianwali district, 200 in Bhakkar, 400 in Dera Ghazi Khan, 800 in khanewal, 1,100 in Rajanpur and 1,000 in Lodhran.

Faisalabad

The NA-83 and PP-51 constituencies in Faisalabad are to witness a tough battle among PML-N, PTI and PPP candidates. Twenty other candidates are also on the run from these two constituencies.

NA-83 (Faisalabad-IX) has several posh urban localities, including Peoples Colony and Batala Colony. PP-51 (Faisalabad-I) by and large falls in the rural area of Lyallpur TMA and Chak Jhumra.

General elections in both these constituencies were postponed due to the death of an independent candidate, Amjad Rabbani.

PML-N has retained its earlier nominees Mian Abdul Mannan and Azad Ali Tabassum to contest by-elections from NA-83 and PP-51, respectively.

The PPP has fielded Mumtaz Ali Cheema and Muhammad Ali Saidhan in NA-83 and PP-51, respectively. PTI’s Faizullah Kamoka and Ajmal Cheema will contest for the National and Provincial Assembly seats, respectively.

Other candidates for NA-83 are: Syed Jaffar Hussain Bukhari from Majlis Wahdatul Muslemeen, Rana Basharat Ali from Awami Justice Party, Manzoor Joori from Muttahidda Qaumi Movement, Nadeem Ahmad Saleemi from the All Pakistan Muslim League and four independent candidates- Haji Ashraf Mughal, Muhammad Ali Makhdoom, Irfan Ahmad and Emanuel Akhtar Bill.

Other candidates running from PP-51 are: Al-Haaj Mian Sajjad Ahmad from the All Pakistan Muslim League, Zafar Iqbal Zafar of the MQM, Athar Shehzad of Awami Justice Party and nine independent candidates- Chaudhary Muhammad Eshaq, Bawa Rizwan Bhuatta, Imtiaz Ahmad Lara, Javaid Iqbal Hushyarpuri, Imran Kenneth, Nauman Javaid Jatt, Syed Izhaar Hussain Shah, Shahid Imran and Zafar Chaddhar.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), there are 368,372 voters in NA-83. Of these 164,966 are female votes.

The number of registered voters in PP-51 is 167,478 (96,198 male and 71,280 female). 300 polling stations have been set up in NA-83 and 139 in PP-51.

As many as 4,343 policemen have been deputed for security in the two constituencies.

Rahim Yar Khan

In Rahim Yar Khan, by-elections will be conducted in PP-289 and PP-292. As many as 13 candidates are running for PP-289 and three for PP-292.

PML-N’s Raees Mehboob Ahmad and PPP’s Mian Muhammad Aslam are running against each other in PP-289. PML-N’s Maulvi Tariq Chauhan will be running against PPP’s Makhdoom Ali Akbar Mehmood, brother of former Punjab governor Makhdoom Syed Ahmad Mehmood) in PP-292.

There are 133,419 (76,055 male and 57,364 female) registered voters in PP-289.

As many as 126 polling stations have been set up. Of these, 31 will be set up for male and female voters each. The remaining will be joint polling stations.

In PP-292, there are 146,005 registered voters (83,510 male and 62,485 female). 116 polling stations have been set up in the constituency (37 for male and female voters each and the rest joint).

35 polling stations in both the constituencies have been declared sensitive. Pakistan Army jawans will supervise polling at these stations.

Sargodha

The Sargodha district administration on Wednesday finalised the security arrangements for 320 polling stations in Sargodha (NA-68). Thirty seven of these have been declared ‘sensitive’.

In NA-68 (Sargodha-V), Sardar Shafqat Hayat of the PML-N, Malik Nazir Ahmad Sobhi of the PTI, Sardar Ali Abbas Khan of the PPP and seven independent candidates are vying for the seat.

A police spokesman said that a superintendent, three deputy superintendents, 11 inspectors, 37 sub-inspectors and assistant sub-inspectors, 603 constables, eight police reserves, and 300 volunteers have been deployed. He said 12 Elite police teams and 33 mobiles would patrol the area.

“Three units of Pakistan Army, one each in Sillanwali, Sahiwal and Shahpur will be on duty to boost security on polling day,” he said.

“A control room has been set up at district police officer’s office which will remain operative round the clock to receive complaints,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2013.