By-polls in 3 KP districts amid tight security

PESHAWAR: Security has been beefed up in three districts of Khyber Pakhtun- khwa as polling material and staff have been dispatched for the by-polls being held today.

More security personnel have been deployed in the three constituencies to avoid clashes between supporters of rival candidates in the wake of their

fiery speeches against each other during the election campaign.

The security arrangements have been made keeping in view the recent law and order situation across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

On Saturday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) wrote to the inspector general of police (IGP) regarding the attitude of the district police officer (DPO) Charsadda for not providing adequate security and not cooperating with the district monitoring officer.

An ECP official said the IGP was told that action would be taken as per law if the DPO did not ensure foolproof security and did not cooperate with the officials.

Polling for by-elections is being held in three constituencies in KP i.e. NA-22 Mardan, NA-24 Charsadda and NA-31 Peshawar

today. The by-election for NA-45 Kurram was postponed due to the law and order situation.

The ECP official said polling material had been handed over to the concerned staff in the three

districts.

A total of over 1.45 million voters, including over 642000 women, are going to cast their votes.

Four candidates each are in the run for NA-22 Mardan and NA -24 Charsadda while eight contenders are in the run for NA-31 Peshawar.

The top candidates contesting for the three slots included former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, provincial president of the Awami National Party Aimal Wali Khan, Ghulam Ahmad Bilour and Maulana Qasim.

The slots fell vacant after the resignations of PTI MNAs.

All the 979 polling stations have been declared sensitive and most sensitive for the by-elections.

Out of the total, 745 polling stations have been declared most sensitive while 234 are declared sensitive for the polls.

Nine to ten policemen will be deployed at the sensitive polling stations to maintain law and order. Extraordinary security arrangements will be made in the constituencies in the wake of recent law and order situation in many parts of the province.