All set to hold by-polls on Sunday

Rawalpindi : All is set to hold the by- elections on October 14 as all the arrangements have been finalized for conducting polls in free, fair and transparent manner in Rawalpindi on Sunday.

Total 13 candidates are in the run for October 14 by-elections in NA-60, Rawalpindi-IV and NA-63, Rawalpindi-VII, two constituencies of Rawal-pindi District.

Army Jawans and police personnel have taken full control of all polling stations to hold fair and free elections. Around 76 polling stations in Rawalpindi have been declared highly sensitive where personnel have been deployed in larger numbers for the by-elections.

The main contest for NA-60 between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s candidate Sheikh Rashid Shafique and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Sajjad Khan, while other contestants vying for the seat include, Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan’s candidate, Zahid Aqeel, Pakistani Awami League’s Asghar Ali Mubarak, and independent candidates Muhammad Qaiser Mir Dad Khan, Aftab Ahmed Qureshi, Tehmina Sajjad Khan and Dr Muhammad Azhar Aslam.

While for NA-63, five candidates are competing including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidate Mansoor Hayat Khan, Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians candidate Syed Ishrat Ali Zaidi, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) candidate Aqeel Malik, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan candidate Qurban Ali, and independent candidate Syed Haider Ali Shah.

General elections in NA-60 were postponed after conviction of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate, Hanif Abbasi in the ephedrine quota case. Whereas NA-63 constituency fell vacant after Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI)’s Ghulam Sarwar Khan vacated the seat.

Elections will also be held in Islamabad’s NA-53 constituency which fell vacant after Prime Minister Imran Khan opted to keep his Mianwali seat and vacated the other four seats he had won in the general elections. There are nine candidates vying for the Islamabad seat but the real competition is between PTI’s Ali Nawaz Awan and PMLN’s Waqar Ahmed.