The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued a statement announcing that according to the revised schedule of the by-elections, voting for the National Assembly’s NA-239 Korangi seat would be held on May 28.
The final list of candidates has been released by the returning officer. Two candidates are contesting for the NA constituency: Muhammad Akram of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Muhammad Yasin of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).
The total number of registered voters in the constituency is 583,462. Out of these people, the number of male voters is 310,428 and the number of female voters is 273,034.
The electoral body has set up 269 polling stations in the constituency, and all of these polling stations have been declared highly sensitive. The number of polling booths for males is 538, while the same number of polling booths have been allocated for females.
The ECP has also drawn attention to Rule 42-A of the Sindh Local Councils (Elections) Rules, 2015, according to which “an independent candidate elected under the Act and these rules may join a political party within seven days of publication in the official gazette of the name of the returned candidates of that category”.
Therefore, an independent candidate can join any political party by May 24 if they want. All independent candidates intending to join any political party must ensure that an acceptance letter from the political party’s leader to the relevant returning officer is delivered within the stipulated period.
The statement reads: “Every independent candidate should also submit an affidavit stating that he is joining a particular political party voluntarily and without coercion. The affidavit should be duly sworn before the oath commissioner and submitted to the returning officer.”
Moreover, under Section 18-A of the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, each political party should submit separate priority lists of their candidates for each category to the returning officer on or before May 24.