ECP completes arrangements for Oct. 14 by-polls

islamabad — The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has completed all necessary arrangements for the holding of by-elections in 36 constituencies on October 14.

According to an ECP official, voting will be held for 11 National Assembly seats and 25 seats from provincial assemblies, including 12 seats for Punjab, nine for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and two each for Sindh and Balochistan.

The official said that ballot papers for all constituencies in both the National and Provincial assemblies have been printed.

He said that foolproof security arrangements have been planned with deployment of security personnel at polling stations to ensure smooth balloting.

The Election Commission official said that as many as 122 candidates are contesting by-elections in 11 National Assembly constituencies, adding that 28 are contesting from NA-131 Lahore-IX, 10 candidates from NA-124 LahoreII, 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 RawalpindiIV, three candidates from NA-56 Attock-II and 11 candidates from NA-53 Islamabad-II.

The ECP official said the commission has already issued amended voters’ lists to the districts concerned as the polling will be held according to new electoral rolls. The ECP official said that the total number of registered voters in the country has reached 106,000,239 with 59,243,889 male (55.89 per cent) and 46,756,350 female (44.11 per cent).

The ECP official said that out of total registered voters, 60,697,418 were from Punjab, 22,394,212 from Sindh, 17,839,845 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (including Fata), 4,302,304 from Balochistan and 766,460 voters were from the federal capital. — APP