LAHORE: The high command of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday reviewed arrangements for the all-important by-poll to National Assembly constituency NA-120, Lahore-III.

Chaired by Director-General (Admin & Monitoring) retired Brig Naeem Akbar Qazi, the gathering was told that 65 candidates had filed their papers for the electoral contest scheduled to be held on Sept 17.

At least 220 polling stations and 568 polling booths will be established for 321,633 registered voters though final polling scheme will be issued 15 days before the polling day when law-enforcement agencies will be given the task to ensure security of the polling stations.

The ECP has decided to introduce on an experimental basis 50 electronic and as many biometric voting machines in 21 polling stations without affecting the manual polling process for by-election being contested by former first lady Begum Kulsoom Nawaz and PTI’s Dr Yasmin Rashid, who had secured around 53,000 votes against 94,000 of ex-PM Nawaz Sharif in May 2013 general elections.

Brig Qazi, who also took round of the constituency, directed the Punjab Election Commission Office staff to form monitoring teams and ensure implementation of the code of conduct issued for the by-poll and also strictly monitor election expenses of the candidates.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2017