By-polls: All eyes on NA-249 Karachi as voting begins in entire constituency

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has finalized all necessary arrangements for conducting by-elections in NA-249 Karachi West-II, under the coronavirus related Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Around 276 polling stations comprising 796 polling booths have been established in the constituency to facilitate 201,656 male and 137,935 female among the 339,591 registered voters, to freely cast their vote in the by-polls.

The National Assembly constituency NA-249’s seat had fallen vacant due to the resignation of MNA Faisal Vawda.

Amjad Afridi of Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), Miftah Ismail of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Qadir Khan Madokhel of Pakistan Peoples party (PPP), Mustafa Kamal of Pak Sarzameen party and Mohammad Mursaleen of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) are vying for the seat.

During the polling process, only Presiding Officers (PO) will be allowed to use mobile phones as ECP directed to keep the location of their cell phones switched on during the elections.

The ECP also directed them to take picture of form 45 in the presence of the polling agents and immediately send it to the Returning Officer (RO) on WhatsApp number.

Moreover, any unauthorized person including security officers will not be allowed to enter the women polling stations without the permission of the concerned PO.

As per security concerns, the personnel of law enforcement agencies including Sindh Rangers and police are deployed on duty outside all the polling stations.

Furthermore, the Sindh government has announced public holiday today in the entire constituency.