Following the swearing-in of the new assemblies, Pakistan’s first by-elections on 21 vacant National and provincial assembly seats are underway with people heading towards the polling stations to use their right to vote.
Major political parties including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) are participating in the by-polls.
The voting on the by-polls, conducted after the February 8 general elections, started at 8am and will conclude at 5pm today.
During the polling process, the federal government suspended mobile phone services temporarily in several districts of Punjab and Balochistan in a decision that was taken to safeguard the integrity and security of the electoral process.
Meanwhile, at the request of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the government also deployed Pakistan Army and Civil Armed Forces (CAF) troops during the polling process.
Several workers of the PML-N and SIC clashed among themselves in several constituencies, leading to death of one PML-N worker, Muhammad Yousaf in Narowal.
Police said that the PML-N worker was taken to hospital where he succumbed to injuries, adding that the polling was stopped in this constituency.
The elections are being held on five NA seats, 12 Punjab Assembly seats, two each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan Assemblies and one in Sindh Assembly.
The NA seats include NA-8 and NA-44 (KP) NA-119 and NA-132 (Punjab) and NA-196 (Sindh). Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has won one seat in the form of NA-207, Nawabshah from where Aseefa Bhutto Zardari has been elected unopposed.
The provincial assembly seats include PK-22 and PK-91 (KP), PB-20 and PB-22 (Balochistan) and PS-80 (Sindh). The Punjab Assembly seats where the by-polls are taking place include PP-32 (Gujrat), PP-36 (Wazirabad), PP-54 (Narowal), PP-93 (Bhakkar), PP-139 (Sheikhupura), PP-147, PP-149, PP-158, PP-164 (Lahore), PP-266 (Rahim Yar Khan) and PP-290 (Dera Ghazi Khan).