QUETTA: Voting for the Balochistan Assembly seat PB-7 Ziarat will be held amid tight security at 59 polling stations across the constituency on Sunday.

Personnel of the Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps have been deputed to ensure the polling in a fair, free and transparent manner, said Provincial Election Commissioner Muhammad Majeed Jaffar.

There are a total of 59,728 registered voters in the constituency — 32,405 male and 27,323 female.

Polling will begin at 8am and continue till 5pm.

Khalilur Rehman Dum­mar of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, Haji Noor Muham­mad Dummar of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Dr Abdul Rehman of the JUI-Nazryati, Abdul Jalil Dum­mar of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Habibur Rehman of the Pakh­tun­khwa Milli Awami Party and independent candidates — Haji Abdul Kakar and Nawab Khan Dummar — are in the race for the seat which fell vacant after the death of Sardar Gul Muhammad Dummar of the JUI-F.

Pakistan Peoples Party and Awami National Party are supporting the JUI-F candidate, while National Party and JUI-N are backing the PTI candidate.

Observers predict a tough contest between the JUI-F, PTI and the PkMAP candidates.

The provincial election commissioner has said that the code of conduct will be followed strictly, adding that notices have already been issued to some political leaders for violating it. Staff from various government organisations have been trained and deployed for the election duty. They have been warned by authorities concerned against showing negligence in the discharge of their duties.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2017