PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Prior to the 2018 general elections, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is undergoing its first test as by-election is underway on Thursday in NA-4, a Constituency in Peshawar, the Capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the PTI rules.
The main contest is expected among PTI’s Arbab Amir Ayub, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Nasir Khan Musazai, Awami National Party’s (ANP) Khushdil Khan, Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Asad Gulzar and Jumaat-e-Islami’s (JI) Wisal Farooq Khan.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) and the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) are supporting the PML-N’s Candidate.
Voters lining up for casting their votes in Bahadar Kallay, Peshawar#VotePaBat pic.twitter.com/1cdcNiq9GD
— KPK Updates (@KPKUpdates) October 26, 2017
However a total of 14 Candidates are in the run, six of them are contesting the by-election from the platform of different political parties whereas eight as independent candidates.
The polling began at 08:00 am and will continue till 05:00 pm without any interval.
There are about 397,904 total registered voters in the Constituency, out of which 235,164 are males and 162,740 are females.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has established 269 polling stations for NA-4 by-election. As many as 182 polling stations have been declared as the most sensitive while 82 as sensitive.
The ECP is also using Electronic Voting Machines in 100 polling booths of 35 polling stations in both urban and rural areas of the Constituency.
Likewise in order to ensure security during the polling, 7,000 policemen and 1,700 army personnel have been deployed in NA-4 Constituency.