By-poll to 13 national, provincial constituencies to be held today

By election to 13 national and provincial constituencies will be held on Sunday.

- Tariq Butt

Polling for 12 Punjab constituencies and one Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) seat will be held. The constituencies where the by-elections are taking place include NA-18 Haripur, NA-96 Faisalabad, NA-104 Faisalabad, NA-143 Sahiwal, NA-185 Dera Ghazi Khan, NA-199 Lahore, PP-73 Sargodha, PP-98 Faisalabad, PP-115 Faisalabad, PP-116 Faisalabad, PP-203 Sahiwal, PP-269 Muzaffargarh, and PP-87 Mianwali.

Security personnel have been authorized to act as magistrates for offences committed during Sunday's by-elections for the national and provincial assemblies.

The interior ministry has approved the deployment of the Pakistan Army and civil armed forces for security in 13 national and provincial assembly constituencies, where by-polls will take place.

A notification issued by the interior ministry said the approval followed requests from Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The civil armed forces have been deployed as “2nd-tier responders (standby/quick reaction)”, while the troops of Pakistan Army have been deployed as “3rd-tier responders (quick reaction force).”

The exact numbers have been determined by home departments and the ECP based on ground assessments.