The stage has been set for the National Assembly’s Lahore constituency NA-133 By-Polls and Returning Officer (RO) Syed Basit Ali Shah has uploaded the RTS app into the Presiding Officers’ (POs) mobile phones for getting speedy results.
According to the 24News HD TV channel, the by-elections in the Lahore constituency would be conducted on Sunday, December 05. The candidates’ electioneering campaign time was ended 24 hours before the polling day at Friday midnight.
Usage of RTS Application
In the NA-133 Lahore by-elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided to use the RTS app as it has already been successfully implemented in some other elections including NA-4 (Peshawar) and PS-114 (Karachi).
In NA-4, the POs entered the results of their polling stations into the application along with the picture of Form-45 by using a specialized mobile phone application with was transmitted to the ECP Server.
Observing the previous good experience, the ECP has decided to use the same app in the NA-133 to get results fast from the POs.
The POs will send a photo of the result at the polling station to the RO through the app. The location of the PO will also be known along with the results through the app.
According to the ECP, POs would take a picture of Form 45 in front of the polling agents of the candidates and send it to the RO on WhatsApp.
In case of a lack of internet facility at their polling station, the PO will immediately reach the office of the RO to hand over the original copy of Form 45 to him.
All the POs will show the RO an original copy of Form-45 with a Snapshot including forensic details. The RO will review the photo and location details and store them on a computer in his office.
The ECP has also given special training to the POs about to use of the RTS app accurately.
No One Apply for Postal Balloting In NA-133
It is strange that voters like military men, civil servants, and inmates have not shown their interest to get a postal ballot to use their right of vote in the by-election in NA-133.
Though the NA-133 RO has printed 3,000 postal ballot papers on the instructions of the ECP but surprisingly, voters did not show their interest as Basit has not received a single request for ballot papers.
The RO Basit said that the Ballot papers could be applied for till November 19 but no one applied for using his or her right to vote in by-polls through the ballot papers.
Security Plan Of The Polling Day
The law enforcement forces have chalked out the security plan for NA-133 by-elections and more than 2,000 officers and personnel will be deployed in the constituency for maintaining law and order.
On the polling day, six SPs and fourteen DSPs will perform their duties under the supervision of SSP Operations and 44 SHOs, 52 Dolphins, and seven Quick Response Teams (QRT) will be deployed in the constituency.
The ECP has also approved the deployment of Rangers besides police at the polling stations for foolproof security.
Polling Station Arrangements
As many as 254 polling stations have been set up for NA-133 by-elections. There are set up 200 separate polling stations for men and women, and 54 combined polling stations to facilitate the voters. There are a total of 831 polling booths for 436 men and 395 women.
The number of registered voters in the constituency with a population of about 800,000 is more than 440,000. There are 233,558 male and 266,927 female voters.
Following the security issues, Category-A has 22 polling stations, B has 198 and C has 34 while a Special Control Room has also been established at the Graduate College for Women's Township.
The CCPO Lahore said that foolproof security will be provided at all the polling stations in NA-133 and voters should be allowed to enter after security checking. He said that the security situation in the constituency would also be monitored by cameras.
Electioneering Campaigns of Candidates
There is only one day left till the by-election in the NA-133 constituency of Lahore and the electioneering campaigns of all candidates would be ended today at midnight. In the NA-133 by-election, 11 candidates are in the fray.
After the disqualification of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Jamsheed Cheema and covering candidate Musarrat Cheema, there are only two mainstream parties candidates—Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate Chaudhry Aslam Gill and the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Shaista Pervez Malik in the contest.
Both the candidates are running their campaigns and there is being expected a tough competition between the PPP and the PML-N.
The PPP and Awami Tehreek Pakistan (ATP) of Allama Tahir-ul-Qadri held a joint rally started from PECO Road to Hamdard Chowk on the last day of the electioneering campaign. A large number of workers from both parties were participating in the rally.
PPP leaders Raja Pervez Ashraf, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmad, Syed Hassan Murtaza, Chaudhry Yasin, Shehla Raza, Samina Khalid Ghurki, Faiza Malik, Robina Sohail Butt, Perveen Sheikh, Anisa, and Nargis Khan also addressed the rally before ending the party’s electioneering campaign at Bagarrian, Township.
The PML-N workers held a motorcycle rally from Johar Town to PECO Road. League workers chanted slogans in favour of their female candidate Shaista.
Main Areas In Constituency
Major areas of NA-133 include Model Town Extension, Chongi Amr Sadhu, Ghulam Hussain Colony, Baba Farid Colony. Madar Millat Road, Peco Road, Pindi Rajputs, Mohammadi Mohalla, Kot Lakhpat, Dilksha Colony, Modern Colony, Bihar Colony, Green Colony Ittefaq Factory, Race Course, Maulana Shaukat Ali Road, Township College Road, Bagrian, Green Town, Federal Colony and The Johar Town area is also included in NA-133.
Reporters: Hasnain Aulakh, Abid Chaudhry, Rao Dilshad, Fasih Ullah, Usman Khan