LAHORE: By-elections are scheduled to take place on April 21, 2024, for 21 national and provincial seats throughout Pakistan.
According to the timetable released by ECP, polling is slated for April 21, and campaign activities concluded at midnight on April 19.
Originally, elections were planned for 23 constituencies. However, the outcomes for two of these seats—one provincial and one national—have already been declared. Aseefa Bhutto Zardari has been elected unopposed from NA-207 Shaheed Benazirabad, while Zubair Ahmad Junejo secured victory from PS-80 Dadu.
Nevertheless, elections are scheduled for NA-8 Bajaur, where independent candidate Rehan Zeb was fatally shot days before the elections.
His brother Mubarak Zeb is now competing for the seat as an independent candidate.
Additionally, elections will be held for NA-44 Dera Ismail Khan-I, vacated by Ali Amin Gandapur, NA-119 Lahore-III, vacated by Maryam Nawaz, NA-132 Kasur-II, vacated by Shehbaz Sharif, and NA-196 Kamber Shadadkot-I, vacated by Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
In total, 50 candidates are contesting the by-elections for the National Assembly’s five seats.
Punjab:
There are 174 people running in 12 areas, with over 4 million voters and more than 2,600 voting places. In Lahore, there will be elections for one national seat and four local seats from 8 am to 5 pm.
For NA-119, there are some notable candidates like Ali Pervaiz Malik of the PML-N and Shahzad Farooq of Sunni Ittehad Council, among others. In PP-147, 11 people, including Malik Riaz and Muhammad Khan Madni, are competing.
Also, in PP-149, there are some important candidates from the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) like Muhammad Shoaib Siddiqui and Qaiser Shahzad among others.
PP-158 has 22 candidates, including PML-N’s Chaudhry Nawaz and Sunni Ittehad Council’s nominee Chaudhary Moonis Elahi. Lastly, in PP-164, there are 20 candidates including PML-N’s Rashid Minhas and Sunni Ittehad Council’s Muhammad Yousaf.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa:
The ECP reports over 1.4 million voters across 2 areas, with 49 candidates and 892 voting places, including 139 sensitive ones.
Balochistan:
There will be by-elections in two areas, BP-20 and BP-22, with over 390,000 voters and 354 voting places.
Sindh:
There are two candidates for NA-196, and over 4 million voters are expected to vote across 303 voting places, with 158 marked as sensitive.
(Islamabad51_Newsdesk)
