Political campaigns conclude as Pakistan set for by-polls

Political parties in Pakistan have concluded their weeks-long campaigns for the country's by-elections scheduled for Sunday in 35 constituencies of the National Assembly or lower house of the country's Parliament and four provincial Assemblies.

Following the code of conduct issued by the poll body, all the candidates ended their campaigns on Friday midnight, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

The by-elections will be held on 11 National Assembly seats and 24 seats of provincial assemblies, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh provinces, according to the Election Commission.

According to the poll body, out of 11 seats of the National assembly, eight were in Punjab province, one each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces and one in Islamabad.

Twenty-four seats from provincial Assemblies included 11 seats for Punjab Assembly, nine for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and two each for Sindh and Balochistan.

As many as 1,727 polling stations out of the total 7,489 were categorized as "highly sensitive" by the poll body.

Pakistan Army personnel took the responsibility of securing the polling stations, both inside and outside. They will be deployed at the polling stations till October 15.

Over 9.23 million registered voters, including overseas Pakistanis, are eligible to cast their ballots. This will be the first time that overseas Pakistanis will cast their votes in the by-polls.

--IANS

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