LODHRAN

Polling will take place on Wednesday (today) for NA-154 by-election in Lodhran where PTI’s Jahangir Tareen and PML-N’s Siddique Baloch, among 18 other candidates, are expected to lead the contestant.
The polling will start at 8:00am and continue till 5:00 in the evening without any interval. According to a statement of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), 303 polling stations have been established in the constituency for the by-poll.
A public holiday will be observed in NA-154 while Ministry for Water and Power has also been requested for zero loadshedding of electricity on the polling day. More than 425,000 ballot papers were published and personnel of Pakistan Army will also be present inside and outside every polling station to ensure peaceful, free, fair and transparent polling process.
The seat fell vacant when an election tribunal declared election of Siddique Baloch as null and void in August earlier this year. Baloch had contested as an Independent candidate in 2013 general elections and won with 86,177 votes, while PTI candidate Tareen bagged 75,955 votes.
It is one of the four National Assembly constituencies where PTI Chairman Imran Khan had called for vote audit before launching his long march and 126-day-long dharna against the PML-N government in 2014. Both the PML-N and PTI have campaigned strongly in the constituency to win the support of electorates. Imran Khan and Hamza Shahbaz Sharif addressed largely attending public meetings in Lodhran on Tuesday.
Returning Officer Ishfaq Qureshi said that polling material had been supplied to the staff. Meanwhile, tight security arrangements have been made to avoid any untoward incidents. More than 3,500 policemen had been deputed for the security while 47 polling stations had been declared as sensitive out of total 303 stations.
The display of weapons of all types even licensed had been banned and strict action will be taken against the violators. Mobile phones and cameras are also banned in the area of polling stations, he said.