CHARSADDA: At least five people were arrested for displaying arms during the bye-election in Charsadda’s NA 24 on Sunday as such acts and pillion riding were banned by the administration.

The police said that the held people belonged to different political parties.

At least four candidates were contesting a bye-election in Charsadda’s NA 24, however, a strong contest was expected between PTI chief Imran Khan and PDM’s Aimal Wali. The other two candidates were Jamaat-e-Islami’s Mujeebur Rehman and independent candidate Superlay Mohmand.

The ECP handed over election materials to relevant staff and finalised arrangements on three vacant NA seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday.

The election materials were handed over to staff members concerned for NA-31 at Nishter Hall Peshawar and also dispatched to district returning officers of Charsadda and Mardan.

The provincial election commissioner of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Muhammad Farid Khattak, visited the material distribution places and issued instructions to district returning officers and returning officers for fair and transparent elections.

He urged all the voters, particularly women to exercise their right to vote by visiting polling stations without any fear or threat to perform their national duty.

The constituencies wherein the by-election is scheduled include NA-22 Mardan, NA-24 Charsadda and NA-31 Peshawar-V. The total number of voters in these constituencies was over 1,450,000, out of which the number of men is over 850,000 while 642,000 are women.

A total of 16 candidates are contesting from these constituencies, four each from NA-22 Mardan and NA-24 Charsadda, while eight candidates are contesting from NA-31, Peshawar-V respectively.

Khattak said that as many as 979 polling stations have been established in all three NA constituencies including 429 polling stations for men and 351 for women, while 199 polling stations are for both men and women.

Out of the 979 polling stations 745 have been declared as highly sensitive and 234 as sensitive. Strict security measures have been ensured.