According to JEE News, polling for the by-elections to eight seats of the National Assembly and three seats of the Punjab Assembly has started on Sunday (today).
Polling started at 8 am and will continue till 5 pm.
The government wanted to postpone the by-elections for at least the next 90 days as it said security personnel were engaged in flood relief operations, while there were also reports of terrorist attacks during the polls.
But the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rejected the proposal to delay the by-elections despite two letters from the Interior Ministry and asked the concerned authorities to tighten security.
Seats
There are eight seats in the National Assembly and three seats in the Punjab Assembly for which by-elections are being held today. The National Assembly constituencies are NA-22 (Male-III). NA-24 (Charsadda-II); NA-31 (Peshawar-V); NA-108 (Faisalabad-VIII); NA-118 (Nankana Sahib-II); NA-237 (Miller-II); NA-239, (Korangi), Karachi-I; and NA 157 (Multan-IV).
The provincial constituencies are PP-139 (Sheikhupura-V). PP-209 (Dynasty VII); and PP-241 (Bahawalnagar-V).
Arrangements Were Finalized.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has completed preparations for by-elections in eight national and three provincial constituencies.
In a statement, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja said that he has written to the Chief Secretaries and Inspector Generals of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces to ensure a peaceful environment and fool-proof security during the by-elections.
There are 2,937 polling stations in 11 constituencies including 806 for men, 713 for women and 1,416 combined polling stations.
There are a total of 9,869 polling booths at the polling stations, of which 5,294 are for men and 4,575 are for women.
A total of 747 polling stations have been declared highly sensitive and 694 sensitive.
The Commission on Saturday handed over the election materials to the concerned staff for the by-elections on the vacant seats.
