KARACHI: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced Friday that the local body polls and the by-elections will be held as per schedule.
The commission has announced October 16 for the by-elections in the National Assembly (NA) and provincial assembly (PA) constituencies.
The constituencies include nine NA seats and three PA seats.
The National assembly seats include NA-22 (Mardan-III), NA-24 (Charsadda-II), NA-31 (Peshawar-V), NA-45 (Kurram-I), NA-108 (Faisalabad-VIII), NA-118 (Nankana Sahib-II), NA-237 (Malir-II), NA-239 (Korangi-I), NA-157 (Multan-IV), PP-139 (Sheikhupura-V), PP-241 (Bahawalnagar-V) and PP-209 (Khanewal-VII).
The three PA seats where by-polls are scheduled are PP-139 Sheikhupura, PP-209 Khanewal and PP-241 Bahawalnagar.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has been contesting for seven national seats.
In NA-157 Multan Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s daughter Mehar Bano Qureshi and Yousaf Raza Gillani’s son Ali Musa Gillani are competing.
Furthermore, NA 118 Nankana Sahib is expected to be a tight contest between PTI Chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Dr. Shezra Mansab Ali Khan, while Syed Afzal Hussain Shah of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) is also in the race.
It is pertinent to mention here that the interior ministry has written a letter to the Election Commission warning it against the possible threat of terrorist attacks during the polls.
It was said that the reports were received of terror attacks during the elections and conducting the polls with only security personnel deployed must be dangerous.
The agencies termed the upcoming elections in the country as a major risk.
However, after conducting an emergency meeting, the ECP has announced to stick with the schedule announced earlier and no change was considered.
The threat
A special report was sent by the Intelligence Agencies mentioning that there is a threat of terrorism during the by-election polling stations. The agencies termed the upcoming elections in the country as a major risk.
In the report, conducting the elections by deploying only police personnel alone was declared insufficient.
It was also said that political personalities may be targeted in the coming days in Punjab whereas at present the political tension is also on the rise and the activists of the different parties are more emotional.
Postponement of polls
Earlier, the Ministry of Interior requested the Election Commission of Pakistan to postpone the by-elections, scheduled to be held on October 16, for 90 days.
The ministry wrote a letter to the ECP to inform it that the federal and provincial governments are utilizing all their energies and resources in the relief and rehabilitation activities of flood-affected people.
The ministry said that it had authentic reports that a political party wants to besiege Islamabad from 12 to 17 October.
The armed forces and Frontier Constabulary (FC) are busy in relief and rescue operations at an extensive level in flood-affected areas of the country, it added.
PTI & JI
However, the PTI and JI blame the federal and particularly Sindh government are running away from the by-polls and LG elections as they are seeing their clear and insulting defeat in these elections.
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