The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday announced the schedule of by-polls in NA-120, Lahore. According to the schedule, polling will be held on September 17. The candidates can file their nomination papers from August 10 to August 15 and scrutiny of papers will be held from August 15 to August 17. Final list of candidates will be published on August 26.
The seat turned vacant due to the verdict of Supreme Court against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Panama Papers case. A close contest is being expected where Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Dr Yasmeen Rashid is all set to give a tough time to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Shahbaz Sharif in the by-election.
The constituency has been historically a PML-N stronghold with PTI as the runner-up in 2013 general election. In 2013, Nawaz Sharif secured 91,666 votes against Dr Yasmeen Rashid who bagged 52,321 votes, while sum of votes of all other 23 candidates, including those from Pakistan Peoples Party, Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl), was 7,364.