PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced that it has finalised arrangements for by-elections in three National Assembly constituencies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Oct 16 (Sunday).

It also said 979 polling stations had been set up for the electoral contest in Peshawar, Charsadda and Mardan districts and 745 of them were highly sensitive and 234 sensitive.

According to the ECP, 1.45 million people, including 808,038 men and 642,651 women, are eligible to cast vote in the by-polls. There are 16 candidates, including former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan, who is contesting election on all three seats.

The ECP said campaigning for by-polls will end at midnight today (Friday) leading to action against violators of the restriction under the Elections Act, 2017.

Imran among 16 candidates for three NA seats

It added that polling would begin at 8am on Oct 16 and continue until 5pm and that the voters present inside polling stations at the voting closing time would be allowed to exercise their right to franchise.

According to the details released by the ECP provincial office, ‘appropriate’ security measures have been taken to hold the electoral exercise peacefully.

Of the 979 polling stations, 429 will be for men, 351 for women and 199 for both, while 3,194 polling booths will be established and they include 1,811 for men and 1,383 for women.

The ECP declared all 265 polling stations in the NA-31 Peshawar constituency highly sensitive. They include 146 for men, 117 for women and two combined.

The NA-22 Mardan will have a total of 330 polling stations, including 238 highly sensitive and the rest sensitive. The polling stations include 87 for men, 80 for women and 163 combined.

In NA-24 Charsadda, 242 of the total 384 polling stations have been declared highly sensitive and the rest sensitive. Of them, 196 are for men, 154 for women and 34 combined. Election material will be handed over to the relevant presiding officers on Oct 15 and will be transported to the respective polling stations.

According to the final lists of candidates, four men each are contesting for NA-22 Mardan and NA-24 Charsadda and eight for NA-31 Peshawar.

The NA-22 candidates include former prime minister Imran Khan, Mohammad Qasim of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, Abdul Waseh of the Jamaat-i-Islami and independent candidate Mohammad Sarwar.

Those running for the NA-24 seat are Mr Imran, provincial chief of the Awami National Party Aimal Wali Khan, Mujeebur Rehman of the Jamaat-i-Islami and independent candidate Sparlay Mohmand.

The NA-31 candidates are Mr Imran, ANP leader Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Mohammad Aslam of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Saeedullah Khan of the Rah-i-Haq Party, Abdul Qadir of the Tehreek-i-Jawanan Pakistan, former MNA Shaukat Ali, who had vacated this seat and is a covering candidate for Mr Imran, and independent candidates Emran Khan and Shaukat Ali.

The NA-22 Mardan constituency has 450,647 voters, including 254,733 men and 195,914 women.

The NA-24 Charsadda voters total 526,862, including 291,016 men and 235,846 women, and those of NA-31 Peshawar 473,180, including 262,289 men and 210,891 women.

The ECP directed the media not to release any unofficial election results until one hour after the end of the polling.

Provincial Election Commissioner Mohammad Freed Afridi asked all voters, especially women, to exercise their right to vote without fear and visit their respective polling stations for it.

He said casting vote was a national responsibility of every voter.

Mr Afridi said all arrangements had been made to ensure impartial and transparent polling and that the returning officers held meetings with the relevant officials for the purpose.

He said the presiding officers and other polling staff were trained for counting votes and compiling poll results.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2022