RAWALPINDI, Oct 9: About 0.69 million voters in Rawalpindi would cast their votes to elect three national assembly and six provincial assembly members on Thursday.

The election authorities have set up 201 polling stations with 522 polling booths in NA-54, 250 polling station with 596 booths in NA-55 and 223 polling stations with 555 booths in NA- 56.

The polling would start at 8.00am and would continue, without interruption, till 5.00pm.

Almost 80 polling stations in all the three constituencies are being tipped as sensitive whereas the local authorities say all possible measures have been taken to pre-empt any untoward incident.

The district government has set up two control rooms, one each in district courts and Police Lines to monitor the electoral process in the city.

The major parties in the run here are People’s Party Parliamentarian, Pakistan Muslim League (N), Pakistan Muslim League (Q), Mutahidda Majlis-i-Amal. An independent panel headed by Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, is also contesting.

The PPP candidates have pledged to work for peace, freedom and equal economic opportunities for the people if voted to power. The party is likely to attract a major share of anti-government vote because of its strong opposition to the military rulers’ policies. Moreover, Rawalpindi was once supposed to be the stronghold of the PPP.

On the other hand, the PML-N has vowed to work for education, justice, improvement in law and order, repealing of constitutional amendments and the Removal from Service Ordinance, rectifying the Kashmir and Afghanistan policies and controlling price hike.

The PML-Q has a limited number of its well-wishers, therefore, it is supporting Sheikh Rashid’s independent panel.

The MMA, the alliance of six frontline religio-political parties, is not expected to cause any major upset. Its candidates have vowed to make Pakistan a true Islamic state and work for the improvement in the living standard of common man.