By-elections: Polling underway for 21 vacant seats in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Voting for the by-elections on twenty-one vacant seats of National and Provincial Assemblies is underway in Pakistan on Sunday under strict security. 

According to Election Commission of Pakistan, the polling is being held on five National Assembly seats, twelve Punjab Assembly seats, two seats of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and two seats of Balochistan Assembly.

The polling will continue till five in the evening without any break.

The Election Commission has set up Election Monitoring and Control Centers to register and address public complaints during the by-elections.

These Centers are located at provincial, divisional and district levels, in addition to the Election Commission Secretariat in Islamabad.

Read more: By-elections: ECP directs security personnel to uphold neutrality, maintain peace

In a bid to safeguard the integrity and security of the electoral process, the federal government has temporarily suspended the cellular services in specific districts of Punjab and Balochistan during the electoral process today.

In a statement, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said that in line with the directions of the Ministry of Interior, the cellular services will remain temporarily suspended in certain districts of the two provinces for two days during the by-elections.

“This decision has been taken to safeguard the integrity and security of the electoral process,” the PTA said.