GUJRAT: Polling in Mandi Bahauddin's NA-108 constituency concluded on Monday amid a confrontation between Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and PML-N workers near some polling stations, injuring more than a dozen people.

Polling was temporarily suspended at polling station No 138 owing to the tense situation following which contingent of police was deployed at the polling station in order to control the situation. Policemen were unable to restore order due to a large number of charged activists present at the scene.

Polling restarted following the deployment of Rangers.

As many as 15 persons were injured when supporters of rival candidates exchanged fire at a polling station in NA-108 Mandi Bahauddin on Monday.

Polling for NA-108 by-election was under way at polling station No 80, which had been declared sensitive. The workers of rival candidates exchanged hot words over some polling matters and then started indiscriminate firing at each other, police sources said.

Adil Hussain, Saber Hussain and Zafar Iqbal were later shifted to Civil Hospital, where they were in critical condition. Heavy contingents of Rangers and police rushed the polling station and brought the situation under control.

A PML-N candidate alleged that PTI workers are attempting to delay polling.

In the constituency, 112 polling stations have been labelled 'sensitive', while 62 are being called 'most sensitive'.

Polling is underway for the by-election in the NA-108 constituency of Punjab's Mandi Bahauddin.

A local holiday has been declared in the Mandi Bahauddin district today by the administration in connection with the by-election, for which the campaigns by candidates pitched by various political parties ended on Saturday midnight.

Polling is scheduled to last till 5pm, without any breaks.

As many as 11 candidates, including that of seven political parties and four independents, are in the race for the constituency that had fallen vacant after the disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MNA Ijaz Chaudhry.

Chaudhry was elected on NA-108 as an independent candidate during the 2013 General Elections.

He later joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) before an election tribunal disqualified him for possessing a bogus academic degree. He then joined the PTI.

Also Read: Tribunal disqualifies PML-N's Aijaz Chaudhry over fake degree

According to independent observers, the actual contest in the constituency is between PML-N's Mumtaz Ahmed Tarrar and PTI’s Tariq Tarrar Raika, whereas the Pakistan People's Party's (PPP) Asif Basheer Bhagat, has also worked hard.

Riaz Farooq Sahi of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Hamza Nasir Iqbal of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek's (PAT) Azam Gujjar are also in the race for NA-108.

The constituency comprises some 417 villages of two tehsils — Mandi Bahauddin and Phalia — with at least 0.9 million population. The number of registered voters in NA-108 is 431,269, including 246,594 males and 184,675 females.

As many as 289 polling stations have been set up —170 joint, 63 for males and 56 for females — while total 809 polling booths have been established.

Some 4,000 police personnel have been deployed at the polling stations for the security duty whereas the contingent of Rangers will be a stand-by arrangement in case of any untoward situation.

An earlier version of the story had erroneously reported that Ijaz Chaudhary had won the NA-108 seat on a PML-N ticket during the 2013 General Elections. The error is regretted.