TANK: Polling was has closed in the NA-25 Dera Ismail Khan-cum-Tank constituency in the by-election here on Wednesday.

The by-poll was first scheduled to be held on Aug 22 but was postponed due to security concerns.

Today, polling started at 8am and continued until 5pm without any break.

Personnel from the army, FC, district administration and police have been deployed at sensitive polling stations of the constituency.

People in large numbers were witnessed arriving at polling stations and big queues of voters were also seen in the premises. However, the turn out of voters was comparatively low in the first two hours of polling.

The seat had been vacated by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam – Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

As many as seven candidates are in the run for this seat. However, a one-on-one contest is expected between Fazlur Rehman’s son Maulana Asad Mehmood and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI)'s Dawar Khan Kundi.

A local holiday was being observed to ensure that people come to vote in large numbers.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had set up 308 polling stations – 77 male, 74 female and 157 combined for 366,550 registered voters – 204,767 male and 161,783 female.

In addition, 845 booths were also set up in these polling stations for facilitation of voters.

As many as 308 Presiding Officers, 846 Assistant Presiding Officers and 846 Polling Officers were supervising the polling process.