Polling is underway in the NA-171 Khanpur, Rahim Yar Khan, constituency for the by-election, with a tight race expected between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
The by-election was necessitated by the passing of PTI member, Mumtaz Mustafa Advocate.
Voting commenced at 8:00 AM and will continue uninterrupted until 5:00 PM.
A total of 7 candidates are contesting the by-election, but the main contest is between Makhdoom Tahir Rashiduddin of the PPP and Hasaan Mustafa Advocate of the PTI.
A total of 526,973 voters are eligible to cast their ballots in the constituency, with 288,113 male and 238,860 female voters.
The Election Commission has set up 301 polling stations across the constituency, with 88 designated for men, 88 for women, and 125 for joint use. There are a total of 901 polling booths, including 510 for men, 391 for women, and 125 for joint use.
To ensure a smooth and peaceful election, the Election Commission has deployed 301 presiding officers, 15 reserve presiding officers, 946 assistant presiding officers, 946 polling officers, and 301 deputy messengers. The returning officer for the constituency is Assistant Commissioner Rahim Yar Khan, Waqas Zafar.
Security arrangements have been beefed up to prevent any untoward incidents. The constituency has been divided into 4 sectors and 23 sub-sectors, with 2,700 police officers deployed to maintain law and order. 62 polling stations have been declared sensitive and are being monitored by CCTV cameras and elite security forces, including the Elite Force and Quick Response Force (QRF).
The main control room at the DPO office is monitoring the situation with three senior police officers and 20 IT experts on duty.
To further ensure a peaceful election, Section 144 has been imposed in the constituency, prohibiting the display and firing of weapons and any violation of the Election Commission’s code of conduct. The ban will remain in effect from September 11th to 13th. According to the notification from the Punjab Home Department, no person, except law enforcement personnel, is allowed to possess licensed weapons during this period.
