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Men sit next to ballot boxes at an election office. — Photo by Reuters

ISLAMABAD: Voting in by-elections for two vacant seats of Punjab Assembly was in progress on Monday with 47 polling stations declared extremely sensitive in the two constituencies.

According to a private news channel, the two provincial seats went vacant after Zulfiqar Khosa (PP-243) and Mohsin Leghari (PP-245) were elected to the Senate.

There are six independent candidates in addition to a Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Sardar Hassamuddin Khosa in competition for the seat of PP-243 constituency of Dera Ghazi Khan. No political party fielded any candidate opposing Hassamuddin.

The constituency of PP-245 has eight candidates including PML-N's Mirza Talpur and PML- Q's Sardar Muhammad Khan Leghari.

There are 134,350 registered voters in PP-243 with 102 polling stations, whereas, PP-245 has a total of 130,758 registered voters with 122 polling stations.

As many as 47 polling stations have been declared extremely sensitive and 73 polling stations sensitive.

At least 1,700 Punjab Police personnel and over 300 Border Military Police have been deployed in the two constituencies.

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