The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday issued the polling scheme for the second round of by-elections scheduled for Sunday.

A total of 858,866 male and female voters will be eligible to cast their ballots in the October 21 by-polls for the National Assembly constituency of NA-247 Karachi and the provincial assembly seats PS-111 Karachi and PK-71 Peshawar.

The time period of campaigning for the by-polls ended at 12 midnight. Candidates will not be allowed to hold rallies, corner meetings or conduct door-to-door campaign after the deadline, while violators will be served with jail terms and fine, according to the ECP.

The three seats were vacated after the candidates elected on them in the July 25 general elections tendered their resignations. All three of the winners belonged to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

Arif Alvi, who was elected from NA-247, resigned after being elected the country's president. Imran Ismail, who had won from PS-111 (Karachi South), gave up his seat after being appointed as the Sindh governor, while Shah Farman resigned from PK-71 Peshawar after being named the govenor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

NA-247

According to the ECP, 240 polling stations have been set up in NA-247, which has a total of 546,451 registered voters.

More than 900 members of the polling staff will perform duties during the by-poll in the constituency, which comprises areas of Defence, Clifton, Old City area, Kharadar, Ranchhore Line etc.

Twelve candidates are in the run for the seat. Besides PTI’s billionaire foreign-qualified candidate Aftab Hussain Siddiqui, prominent contenders are Sadiq Iftikhar of the MQM-P, famous TV artist Qaiser Khan Nizamani of PPP, Arshad Vohra of the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP), Ali Nawab of the Pakistan Sunni Tehreek and seven independent candidates.

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and PML-N are not contesting the by-election.

PS-111

Eighty polling stations have been established in the Sindh Assembly constituency of PS-111. The constituency has 178,965 registered voters.

According to ECP, 80 presiding officers and 320 assistant presiding officers will perform duties on election day. Fourteen candidates are in the race for the seat.

PK-71

A total of 133,451 voters will be eligible to cast their ballots in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly constituency of PK-71.

Eighty-six presiding officers and 307 assistant presiding officers will perform duties at the 86 polling stations set up in the constituency.

Five candidates are in the run for the election from PK-71.

Facilitation centre set up

The ECP has set up a facilitation centre to assist voters regarding the by-elections in the three constituencies.

The facilitation centre will function between 8am and 6pm on Sunday. Residents will be able to seek details of results of by-polls in their constituencies after 6pm.