Federal Government has sanctioned the deployment of Pakistan Army and Civil Armed Forces personnel for upcoming by-elections.
The troops will serve as a rapid response force, a decision made in response to a request from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Earlier, the Punjab government enforced Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in various districts where by-elections are scheduled, including Lahore, Kasur, Chakwal, and Gujarat.
This enforcement extends to Bhakkar, Wazirabad, Narowal, Sheikhupura, Rahim Yar Khan, and Dera Ghazi Khan, with the restriction in place from April 18 to 22.
These measures come ahead of by-elections to be held on April 21 for around two dozen National and provincial assembly constituencies.
The campaigning for these by-polls concluded at midnight on April 19 and 20, as specified by the commission.
The by-elections will cover vacant seats in the National Assembly, Punjab Assembly, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Balochistan Assembly, and Sindh Assembly.
The ECP has finalized all arrangements, with polling scheduled from 8 am to 5 pm. Over 6.23 million ballot papers have been printed, including white papers for both national and provincial assemblies.
In Punjab, 174 candidates are competing, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has 49 candidates. Punjab has over 40 million registered voters, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa expecting 1.471 million.
In Sindh, NA-196 will see 4.239 million eligible voters with five candidates competing across 933 polling stations. Balochistan has 125 polling stations for 163,000 voters across two provincial constituencies.
To address any issues, a control room will be set up at provincial election commissioners’ offices.
Additionally, Asifa Bhutto has been elected unopposed from NA-207 Shaheed Benazirabad, while Zubair Junejo has been elected unopposed from Sindh Assembly Constituency PS 80 Dadu.
