NA 171 Rahim Yar Khan polling for by-elections starts

Rahim Yar Khan: The polling process for the by-election in Constituency NA 171 Rahim Yar Khan has started on Thursday.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), polling will continue from 8:00am to 5:00pm without any break and voters will exercise their right to vote.

In the by-election, a tough competition is expected between Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Makhdoom Tahir Rashiduddin and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Hassan Mustafa, while four other independent candidates are also participating.

Election Commission officials said that the number of registered voters in the constituency is 526,973. 301 polling stations have been established in the constituency for the election, where strict security arrangements have been made.

It is pertinent to note that this seat fell vacant due to the death of PTI Member of National Assembly (MNA) Mumtaz Mustafa.

On the other hand, Section 144 was implemented to conduct peaceful by-elections in NA-171 and the notification has also been issued.

According to the Punjab Interior Department, the ban will be applied till Friday, September 13. During Section 144, display of all types of weapons, firing and violation of the Election Commission's code of conduct will be banned.

According to the notification, no person except law enforcement agencies can possess licensed arms.