LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) are seen major contestants in the PP-206 Khanewal by-election scheduled for December 16.
The seat fell vacant after the death of PML-N’s Nishat Khan Daha who breathed his last on October 23. In 2018 general elections, Nishat Daha secured this seat by getting 51,353 votes followed by Rana Mohammad Saleem, who contested the polls from PTI’s platform, with 47,807 votes.
PPP’s Mir Syed Wasiq Haider stood third with 6,617 votes and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP)’s Mohammad Amir Sohail came fourth with 5,764 votes. Interestingly, in this by-polls contest, Daha’s wife Naureen has jumped ship and will contest the elections from the PTI ticket, while Saleem has joined the PML-N’s ranks.
The Election Commission of Pakistan has set up 185 polling stations for around 230,698 voters of the constituency where 13 candidates were competing, declaring 23 polling stations ‘highly sensitive’ and 84 other ‘sensitive’. The ECP has requisitioned the services of the Rangers for maintaining law and order during the polling in the constituency to depute the personnel outside the polling stations.
