Politicians made a final attempt to lure voters, as the election campaign for by-elections on 11 seats – including eight of National and three of Punjab assemblies – ended Friday night.
Former prime minister Imran Khan, who would be contesting elections from seven constituencies, landed in Karachi and addressed a public rally in Shah Faisal Colony. He termed the by-election a do or die fight and ’jihad.
The PTI chief is contesting 7 out of 8 NA seats up for grabs. He was supposed to fight the election on nine seats, however, it was reduced to seven when Abdul Shakoor took back his resignation and the Election Commission of Pakistan delayed the election on one of the constituencies.
The by-elections scheduled for October 16 would be followed by the local government elections in Karachi on October 23, rising the political atmosphere in the economic hub of the country.
Below were the details of the National and Punjab assemblies’ constituencies where by-elections are held:
Mardan
Four candidates would be contesting the election from NA 22.
This seat fell vacant after the resignation of PTI’s Ali Muhammad Khan, who gave a fiery speech when Imran Khan was ousted through a vote of confidence in April.
Charsadda
NA 24 has also four candidates.
This seat fell vacant after the resignation of PTI’s Fazal Muhammad.
Peshawar
There were seven politicians fighting for the NA 31 seat. But below five were the most important:
Faisalabad
There were 10 leaders up for the NA 108 constituency, out of which four were the leading ones.
The seat fell vacant after the resignation of Farrukh Habib.
Nankana Sahib
Three candidates were fighting in NA 118 constituency.
The seat fell vacant after PTI leader Aijaz Shah’s resignation.
Multan
Former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s daughter Meherbano was among the eight candidates contesting the election in NA 157, out of which five were important.
The seat fell vacant after the resignation of Zain Qureshi, who stepped down to enter the Punjab Assembly.
Because the issue of resignation here was given in protest of other members of the PTI assembly, it was different from resignations, so Imran was not a candidate from this constituency.
Malir Karachi
Four out of the 11 candidates contesting elections in NA 237 were:
The seat fell vacant after the resignation of PTI leader Jameel Muhammad.
Korangi Karachi
Below were a few of the names out of the 22 candidates up for election in NA 239.
The seat fell vacant after the resignation of PTI leader Akram Cheema.
Sharaqpur PP 139. A strong fight was expected between the below three candidates out of the total nine.
The seat fell vacant after the resignation of PML-N leader Jaleel Sharaqpuri. A five-MPA group led by Jaleel in Punjab Assembly remained cut off from its party, PML-N, and supported the PTI.
Khanewal PP 209. A strong contest was expected between the below two candidates out of the total eight.
The seat fell vacant after the resignation of erstwhile PML-N leader Faisal Niazi. He had also joined the “rebel MPAs”.
Chishtian PP 241. Four out of the seven candidates were the top most in the constituency.
The seat fell vacant after the resignation of PML-N leader Kashif Mehmood.
