LODHRAN: Polling for the national assembly seat (NA-154) in Lodhran is underway after the seat fell vacant in the aftermath of the disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Tareen
The polling began at 8:00 am and will continue till 5:00 pm without any break. Election material has already been transported to respective polling stations and special security arrangements have been made for a smooth conduct of the by-polls.
In total, 338 polling stations have been set up in the constituency, whereat 431,002 voters will exercise their right to vote.
As many as 10 candidates are in the running for the NA seat. The PTI has fielded Tareen’s son Ali Tareen as its candidate, whereas Pir Iqbal Shah is contesting the by-polls on the ticket of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N).
In the 2015 by-polls, Jahangir Tareen had won the seat after defeating the PML-N’s Siddiqui Baloch with a margin of more than 35, 000 votes.
In order to ensure free and fair conduct of the by-election, 4000 police and military personnel (2000 each) will discharge security duties in the constituency.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, PTI’s candidate Ali Tareen and PML-N’s candidate Iqbal Shah were slapped with a fine of Rs40,000 and Rs30,000 respectively.
According to a letter by district monitoring officers dated February 11, Shah was slapped with a fine because “as per reports received in the office of the DRO, Abdul Rehman Khan Kanju MNA/Minister of State appeared to have attended/addressed corner meetings for promoting election campaign of Muhammad Iqbal Shah.”
Similarly, Tareen was fined because “2018 Election Commission’s Monitoring Team reported to the undersigned that Imran Khan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Murad Saeed and Sheikh Rasheed (all MNA’s) attended and addressed a gathering in the constituency in the presence of Ali Khan Tareen.”