FAISALABAD: The polling for by-election began here almost in the entire constituency of PP-97 (Faisalabad-1) sharp at 8 am on Sunday (July 17).
In all 12 candidates are contesting in the by-election in PP-97. However, main competition is expected between PML-N candidate Muhammad Ajmal Cheema and PTI candidate Ali Afzal Sahi.
A spokesman of the Election Commission said that the presiding officers, assistant presiding officers and other polling staff reached their duty places on time but voter turn-out was thin.
He said that supporters of the contestants were seen arranging shade for the voters and were distributing chits bearing details of vote number, serial number and polling station numbers.
No complaint of delay in commencement of polling process was reported from any part of the constituency, he added.
He further said that there are total 255,884 voters in PP-97 including 138,463 males and 117,421 females.
The election commission established 168 polling stations, including 68 stations for males, 64 for females and 36 combined.
Similarly, 550 polling booths were setup across the constituency, including 291 booths for men and 259 booths for women voters.
As many as 51 polling stations in PP-97 were declared most sensitive and 39 sensitive where tight security arrangements were made by deploying 5132 police personnel in addition to keeping rangers in standby position to deal with any situation, he added.