Vote underway in Chakwal for NA-61 seat

CHAKWAL: Chakwal is currently witnessing by-elections for NA-61 seat of the National Assembly, Geo News reported Wednesday.

The polling started at 8am this morning and will continue till 5pm without any interval.

This time, the seat has fallen vacant after Sardar Faiz Ahmad Taman resigned owing to differences with the PML-N leadership.

The insiders, however, tell another story. Faiz Taman was also a returned candidate from the constituency in 2002 as an independent candidate and was the only legislator in Pakistan who had joined the PPP. He then developed differences with the PPP and joined the dissident group of the party, PPP-Patriot. In 2008, he joined the PML-N after a meeting with Sharifs and challenged Pervaiz Elahi and won the election with a very thin majority.

The registered votes in the constituency were 394,663, out of which 226,985 votes were polled and 11,396 votes were rejected. Faiz Taman had secured 92,201 votes while Elahi got 91,769 votes. PPP candidate Sardar Mansoor Hayat Taman could secure only 28,807 votes and an independent candidate Malik Muhammad Irfan Hussain could get only 292 votes.

This time there are 395,039 registered voters in this constituency and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has set up 363 polling stations. Out of 363 polling stations, 231 are established for combined polling while 66 each are established for men and women. The total number of polling booths is 775, out of this 391 are reserved for men and 384 for women.

The ECP has appointed 363 presiding officers while the number of polling officers and assistant presiding officers is 775 each. The poling will start at 8am and will continue until 5pm without any break.