Polling started at 8am on Sunday to elect members of 41 cantonment boards across Pakistan, with 1,560 candidates contesting in 206 wards.
Of the 1,560 candidates, 684 have been contesting elections as independent, and 876 belong to different political parties. The ruling PTI has fielded the most 183 candidates.
The PML-N has fielded 144 candidates, the PPP 113, the Jamaat-e-Islami 104, the outlawed Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan 83, MQM-P 42, Pak Sarzamin Party 35, PML-Q 34, and JUI-F 25 candidates.
Seven candidates have been elected unopposed.
The election will not take place in Kamra Cantonment Board, while polls have been postponed in one ward each in Rawalpindi and Pano Aqil.
Meanwhile, in 20 of Punjab’s cantonment boards, four candidates — two each from Multan and Attock — have been elected unopposed, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said.
Mohammad Salman Iqbal, Saima Aashiq, Mohammad Yaqub Nasir, and Mohammad Sadiq have been elected unopposed as councilors, the ECP said.
Therefore, of the 114 of Punjab’s cantonment boards, polling will take place in 110, the Election Commission said.
Meanwhile, in Kamra Cantonment Board, no candidate has filed nomination papers in all four of the wards and therefore, polling will not take place there.
Ironically, not a single woman candidate is contesting elections in Lahore. However, 357 polling stations have been set up for 606,628 voters in the city. 269 candidates are contesting elections for 20 wards in Lahore. Out of the total, 241 polling stations have been declared sensitive and 44 most sensitive.
As many as 923 candidates will take part in elections across Punjab.
In Quetta, 35 candidates are contesting for five wards for which 31 polling stations have been set up. In total, 15,346 male and 13,599 female voters will exercise their right to vote.
In Karachi, polling is underway across 42 wards of six cantonment boards. A total 350 candidates are contesting elections in the metropolis. The administration has set up 288 polling stations.
Meanwhile, elections are underway in 10 wards each in Gujranwala, Hyderabad, Sargodha and Abbottabad and seven wards of Multan and other cities.
Just two days before the elections, tension prevailed in the Gulistan-e-Jauhar area of Karachi after members of the PTI and the PSP clashed.
