Election Commission Of Pakistan Finalizes Arrangements For Bye-elections In 35 Constituencies

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has finalized all necessary arrangements for holding of bye-elections in 35 constituencies on Sunday in a free, fair and transparent manner.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Oct, 2018 ) :Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has finalized all necessary arrangements for holding of bye-elections in 35 Constituencies on Sunday in a free, fair and transparent manner.

According to an official of ECP, the election will be held on 11 National Assembly seats and 24 seats from provincial assemblies included 11 seats for Punjab Assembly, nine for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and two each for Sindh and Balochistan.� He said that bye-elections will be held in National Assembly seats included NA-131 Lahore-IX, NA-124 Lahore-II, NA-103 Faisalabad-III, NA-35 Bannu, NA-243 Karachi East-II, NA-69 Gujrat-II, NA-65 Chakwal-II, NA-63 Rawalpindi-VII, NA-60 Rawalpindi-IV, NA-56 Attock-II and NA-53 Islamabad-II.

He said that the commission has already issued amended voters' lists to the districts concerned as the polling will be held on new electoral rolls.

He said that total registered voters in the country have reached the figure of 106,000,239 with 59,243,889 male (55.89 percent) and 46,756,350 female (44.11 percent) voters.

He said that out of total registered voters, 60,697,418 were from Punjab, 22,394,212 voters from Sindh, 17,839,845 voters from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (including FATA), 4,302,304 voters from Balochistan and 766,460 voters from Federal capital.

He said that in Punjab, the male voters were 33,690,140 while female voters were 27,007,278.

In Sindh, the male voters were 12,438,375 while female voters were 9,955,837.

Similarly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the male voters were 10,220,103 while the female voters were 7,619,742. In Balochistan, the male voters were 2,487,470 while the female voters were 1,814,834 while in federal capital the male voters 407,801 and the female voters were 358,659.

The official said that a special security plan has been chalked out to ensure foolproof security for sensitive polling station on polling day. He added the security plan will be implemented in coordination with the provincial governments and departments concerned.

He said the commission has planned special security measures to ensure security of voters for having better turnout.

He said that foolproof security arrangements have been planned with deployment of security personnel at polling stations to ensure smooth polling process.� He said that the election campaign for by-elections will come to an end on midnight falling between October 12 and October 13.

He added under section 182 of Elections Act 2017, no person shall convene, hold or attend any public meeting and no person shall promote or join any procession within the area of constituency during a period of 48 hours ending at midnight following the conclusion of the poll for an election in that constituency.

He said any person who contravenes these provisions of law shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with fine which may extend to Rs100,000 or with both.

He requested the political parties and candidates to follow the provisions of law and exercise self-restraint so that the poll would be held in an orderly and peaceful manner on October 14.

The official said that the ECP has issued voters pass to successful registered 7,364 I-voters for bye-elections. He added these voters passes were issued during the registration process of I-voters through their email ID.

He said that all registered I-voters can cast their vote in bye-elections being held on October 14. He added only registered I-voters with having voters passes will have right of casting vote.

He asked all such pass holders to exercise their right of vote during 8:00am to 5:00pm (Pakistan Standard Time) on polling day. He advised the I-voters to cast their vote as early as possible.

He said that the registered I-voters will be responsible to protect the information of voter pass.

He said that I-voters should avoid sharing any information about their login and voter pass with anyone for safety of such information.