ISLAMABAD, Feb 24: By-elections for 10 seats of National and provincial assemblies are being held on Saturday across the country.

With the exception of former PML-N leader Javed Hashmi, most of the seats have been vacated by members of ruling parties, mainly to join the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf.

Of six seats of the National Assembly, only one fell vacant because of the death of MNA Azeem Daultana, who died in a road accident last month.

Azeem Daultana, the grandson of Punjab’s former chief minister Mumtaz Daultana, had won the seat in the 2008 general elections from NA-168 (Vehari) on the PPP ticket, defeating his aunt Tehmeena Daultana of PML-N and Ishaq Khakwani of PML-Q.

Due to election alliance between PPP and PML-Q, the odds on this seat are reported to be in favour of Natasha Daultana of PPP whose rival candidate is PML-N’s Bilal Akbar Bhatti.

All other five seats fell vacant because of resignation of MNAs belonging to PPP, PML-F, PML-N and ANP, who later joined the PTI.For by-election on NA-149 (Multan–II) seat vacated by Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, there were 10 candidates, seven of them independents.

Sheikh Muhammad Tariq Rashid of PML-N, Malik Liaquat Ali Dogar PPP’s and Sardar Safdar Abbas Khan Baloch of MMA-Pakistan, are prominent among 10 candidates.

By-election is also being held for Multan-I (NA-148) seat which fell vacant because of resignation Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi who joined the PTI. Syed Ali Musa Gilani, son of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, of PPP and Malik Abdul Ghaffar doggar of PML-N are among 17 candidates vying for the seat.

For NA-195 (Rahim Yar Khan) seat vacated by Jahangir Khan Tareen of PML-F after having joined the PTI, there were 10 candidates.

For NA-140 (Kasur-III) by-election, there were 15 candidates and Sardar Muammad Sarwar Dogar of PPP is the only candidate backed by a political party because other 14 contenders in arena will fight elections independently.

The seat fell vacant after the resignation of Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali of PPP.

Similarly, by-election on NA-9 (Mardan-I) is being held because Nawabzada Khawaja Muhammad Khan Hoti quit the ANP and joined PTI.

Before joining the ANP, he was a senior member of the PPP and was also the provincial president of PPP. He was also general secretary of PPP during the PPP government in 1996.

By-election on PP-18 (Attock-IV) is being held because of resignation of Malik Kurrum Ali Khan of PPP who later joined the PTI.

For PS-57 (Badin-I) seat by-election, besides 16 independent candidates, Hasnain Ali Mirza of PPP, the son of former Sindh home minister Zulfiqar Mirza, Ghazi Salehuddin of MQM and Mir Manzoor Ahmed Talpur of PML-N are other candidates.

The seat fell vacant after the resignation of Zulfiqar Ali Mirza from the PPP.

For PS-53 (Hyderabad-XI) by-election, Mr Waheed of PPP is the only candidate backed by a political party. Ten other candidates are contesting as independent candidates. The seat fell vacant because of the death of Syed Mohsin Shah Bukhari.

On PP-44, (Mianwali-II), there were five candidates. Of them two are independents. Mr Adil Abdullah Khan Rokhari of PML-N, Muhammad Sardar Bahadur Baber Khan of PPP and Tahir Javed Khan Salar of PML-F are candidates backed by political parties.

The seat fell vacant on the death of Amir Hayat Khan Rokhari of PML-N.