PESHAWAR: Polling for the by-election on the vacant seat of National Assembly constituency NA-45 Kurram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa held on Sunday, which remained largely peaceful.

Amid tight security arrangements, the polling process, which commenced at 8:00 AM, continued without any interval till 5:00 PM. As many as 2,100 policemen were deputed on polling duty, officials concerned said.

119 out of 143 polling stations have been declared highly sensitive and 21 others as sensitive. The Kurram by-election was originally postponed from Oct 16 due to the law and order situation in the constituency.

A total of sixteen candidates are in the run for the seat, including PTI chief Imran Khan and Jamil Khan of Jamiat Ulema e Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

A tough competition is expected between Imran Khan and Jamil Khan.

There are 198,618 registered voters in the constituency. The voters will cast their votes at 143 polling stations — 119 of them have been declared very sensitive and 24 others sensitive, according to the spokesman.

Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Moazzam Jah Ansari on Sunday visited the office of Provincial Election Commissioner Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Secretary Election Commission Umar Hameed Khan, Provincial Election Commissioner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shamshad Khan was also present on this occasion.

The IGP was briefed regarding the security arrangements for polling in NA-45 Kurram bye-election. The Secretary Election Commission expressed satisfaction with the arrangements and security measures.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022