- ECP says foolproof security arrangements were made.
- An electoral monitoring center is established, he adds.
- CCTVs were also installed at sensitive polling stations.
MULTAN: Voting for by-elections in NA-148 (Multan-1) is underway on Sunday (today) with 69 polling stations declared sensitive in the constituency.
Voting began at 8 a.m. and will continue until 5 p.m. without any interval. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the Multan district administration said they had completed all arrangements for a fair election.
At least 444,231 voters will exercise their right to vote in the elections in which 275 polling stations have been established.
ECP Punjab spokesperson said foolproof security measures had been taken at polling stations, while surveillance cameras and passage gates had also been installed at sensitive polling stations.
Eight candidates, including Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) leader Barrister Taimur Altaf Malik and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Ali Qasim Gillani, are contesting the seat.
The National Assembly seat fell vacant following the election of Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani as a senator. In a neck-and-neck contest with Malik, Gillani had won the seat in the 2024 general elections.
Meanwhile, the ECP spokesperson said that an Election Control and Monitoring Center had been established to facilitate the public, where they could register their complaints regarding the ongoing elections.
“Immediate measures will be taken for the timely resolution of the complaint. Trained personnel have been assigned to the center. Control centers have been set up at four levels to quickly record and address people's complaints,” the spokesperson said.
The ECP official said that the EMCC had been established at the ECP Secretariat in Islamabad as well as at the provincial, divisional and district levels.
