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Polling is currently under way in the NA-75 Daska constituency with expectations of a close fight between the ruling PTI and the PML-N.
According to Radio Pakistan, polling — which started at 8am — will continue till 5pm without any break.
The PML-N has awarded the ticket to Nosheen Iftikhar while Ali Asjad Malhi is the candidate for the PTI. A candidate of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Khalil Sandhu, is also in the run.
Rangers are on patrol duty, ensuring the transportation of election staff and material, while army troops have been stationed in Daska Stadium and will be available on call.
To make the conduct of the re-poll transparent, CCTV cameras have been installed at 47 sensitive polling stations, out of a total 360.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided that the presiding officers will sign the Form 45 (final results) inside the polling stations in the presence of polling agents of the respective candidates before they leave the premises, while no political figure will be allowed to meet the RO while receiving the election results.
The NA-75 seat fell vacant after the death of PML-N MNA Syed Iftikharul Hassan alias Zahry Shah in August 2020. The by-poll was delayed for six months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ECP had withheld the results of the Feb 19 by-poll in Daska due to violence, rigging and the disappearance of over 20 presiding officers and ordered a re-election in the entire constituency. The order was later upheld by the Supreme Court.
‘Daska has been given another chance’
PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Friday said that all eyes will be on Daska as the people of the constituency will be representing the sentiments of the country’s 220 million-strong population.
“The people of Daska have been given another chance to exact revenge from the vote stealing government, which has snatched bread from the people’s mouth while also taking away development from Pakistan,” she said.
The government’s fears will prove to be true, she said, adding that the people of the constituency will cast their vote in order to avenge the deaths of those killed on Feb 19.
She stated that voters will demonstrate their lack of confidence in the current government by casting their vote, adding that incompetent governance had endangered the country’s security.
“Daska will expose those who made false promises and have taken the country thirty years back in the span of three,” she said.
She said that the people of Daska will not only guard the sanctity of the vote but will also protect polling staff.
PML-N submits application to CEC
Nosheen Iftikhar, the PML-N candidate, submitted an application to the chief election commissioner on Friday, alleging that certain presiding officers had been tasked by her opponents with casting additional/bogus votes in about 100 polling stations.
She requested for foolproof arrangements to ensure that no bogus votes were cast and that a mechanism be put in place to tally counterfoils with the number of votes cast and to check whether the counterfoils contain authentic and verified particulars of voters.
She also sought deputation of polling officers at each polling station by the ECP to keep a check on presiding officers.
The returning officer responded that the candidate should specify the names of the presiding officers along with their polling station numbers, and tangible evidence as no [preventive] action may be taken on mere speculations and apprehensions.
In another application, she invited the attention of election authorities that CCTV are not being installed on all main roads in Daska and feared that the lack of monitoring equipment may encourage violence.
The returning officer told the candidate that surveillance cameras had been installed in accordance with the SOPs (standard operating procedures) at all the polling stations declared highly sensitive by the district returning officer to record poll proceedings, vote counting process and preparation of results by the presiding officers.