DERA ISMAIL KHAN: The district administration has made elaborate arrangements for the by-election on provincial assembly constituency PK-68, DI Khan-V, on September 8.

About 13 candidates are in the run for the seat which fell vacant after Javed Akbar was disqualified by the election tribunal in a fake degree case. According to political pundits, tough contest is expected between PTI candidate Ehtesham Javed Akbar and Murid Kazim Shah. Mr Shah is contesting the election as an independent candidate, but has the backing of the PPP and ANP.

District election commissioner Mohammad Tariq said that measures had been taken to ensure free and fair election. He said that a total of 108 polling stations had been set up for 127,617 registered voters, including 58,614 female, in the constituency. He said that 54 polling stations were combined while 27 each had been set up separately for male and female voters.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2014