By Agha Iqrar Haroon
Lahore, Pakistan :Polling has ended in NA-120 Lahore III by-election with lower turn out than expected.
As many as 42 candidates including 32 independents contested election making very lengthy ballot paper therefore ballot boxes were filled by afternoon in most polling stations and second and third ballot boxes were filling by the end of the polling time.
Polling process was very slow and low till afternoon and geared up by 5 pm.
It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) fielded Begum Kulsoom Nawaz while Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) repeated Dr Yasmin Rashid who lost election against disqualified former prime minister Nawaz Sharif but got reasonable vote. She bagged 52,000 votes in general election of year 2013 while Nawaz Sharif won by bagging 92,000 plus votes.
Right wing parties including Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Milli Muslim League (MML) also fielded their candidates. It may be mentioned that PMLN is being considered as Right Wing party and against whose Right Wing and Left Wing political parties separately fielded candidates.
Strict security measures were seen in all over the constituency where police Pakistan Rangers and Pakistan Army kept alert for maintain smooth polling process.
It is important to mention 321,786 registered voters including 179,642 male and 142,144 female were allowed to poll their vote. However, turn out of voters looked low.
As many as 220 polling stations including 103 for male, 98 for female and 19 combined were set up Election Commission of Pakistan where security arrangements were looked after by Pakistan Army. 573 polling booths were set up according to polling scheme for today’s by-election.
