LAHORE: By-polls are being held today (Wednesday) in Khushab area of Sargodha district for the PP-84 Punjab Assembly seat.
The seat fell vacant after the death of PML-N MPA Malik Muhammad Waris Kallu who died on March 12 from COVID-19. A total of eight candidates are vying for the provincial assembly seat including from the PTI, PML-N and PPP.
A tough contest is expected between PTI’s Sardar Ali Hussain Khan Baloch and PML-N’s Malik Moazzam Sher Kallu. The PPP has awarded a ticket to Ghulam Habib Ahmed for the by-elections.
Election Commissioner Punjab Ghulam Israr Khan has urged the voters to come and exercise their right without any fear. He said foolproof security arrangements have been made and voters should abide by the COVID-19 SOPs
He directed District Monitoring Officer (DMO) for PP-84 Khushab Rai Sultan Bhatti to initiate action over any violation of ECP’s code of conduct in the constituency.
Commissioner Sargodha Division Dr Farah Masood and Regional Police Officer (RPO) Sargodha Ashfaq Khan visited Khushab district on Monday and reviewed security arrangements for the by-election.
The RPO had directed the DPO Khushab Muhammad Naveed and Deputy Commissioner Musarat Jabeen to ensure security and smooth conduct of elections in the constituency and safe delivery of ballot boxes and other election materials at the polling booths.
There a total of 292,000 registered voters in the provincial assembly constituency including 155,104 male and 137,583 female. The election commission has set up 229 polling stations, featuring 666 polling booths — 344 for male and 322 for female voters.
