PESHAWAR: Voting was underway on Monday for by-elections on Dera Ismail Khan's PK-68 provincial assembly seat.

Polling began at 8am and is scheduled to continue till 5pm.

Some 13 candidates are contesting for the seat which fell vacant after independent member of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Javed Akbar was disqualified by an election tribunal in a bogus degree case.

A tough contest is expected between PTI candidate Ehtesham Javed Akbar and Murid Kazim Shah who is contesting the election as an independent candidate, but has the backing of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Awami National Party (ANP).

District election commissioner Mohammad Tariq said a total of 108 polling stations had been set up for 127,617 registered voters, including 58,614 female, in the constituency.

Tariq also said 54 polling stations were combined while 27 each had been set up separately for male and female voters.

Moreover, at least 770 policemen were on duty guarding the polling stations.