MULTAN: Polling for the third and final phase of local government elections in seven districts of south Punjab and four districts of central Punjab will be held on Saturday (today).

Like the earlier two phases, people will elect representatives for district council, union council, municipal corporation and municipal committees in Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, Rajanpur, Muzaffargarh, Rahim Yar Khan, Layyah, Jhang, Khushab, Sialkot, Rawalpindi and Narowal.

Of these districts, Rawalpindi, Multan, Bahawalpur, Sialkot and Dera Ghazi Khan have municipal corporations besides district councils and municipal committees.

In the first two phases, candidates of the ruling PML-N and independents had dominated the polls, followed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI). The trend is likely to be repeated, except for Multan, Rahim Yar Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan, where PTI’s (PTI)’s) Shah Mahmood Qureshi, PPP’s Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood and Zulfiqar Khosa have fielded a good number of candidates.

MULTAN: Candidates are vying for 68 wards of the Multan Municipal Corporation, 117 union councils and 12 wards each of municipal committees of Shujaabad and Jalalpur Pirwala.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has established 1,793 polling stations for 2.26 million voters.

According to Regional Police Officer Tariq Masood Yasin, 105 polling stations are highly sensitive and 450 sensitive while six companies of Rangers and army will be on the disposal of the police.

There are 767 candidates for 185 chairman and vice chairman seats while 1,110 councilors will be elected from 3,768 candidates.

There are 88 union councils of the Bahawalpur District Council and 21 of the Bahawalpur Municipal Corporation. The district has five municipal committees: Ahmedpur East (45 wards), Hasilpur (34), Khairpur Tamewali (19), Yazman(16) and Uch Sharif (13). Registered voters are 1.64 million, and for them 1,255 polling stations have been set up. One PML-N candidate for chairman has been elected unopposed from union council No 2, while 95 candidates are trying their luck for the remaining 20 union councils.

For the district council, there are 306 candidates.

RAHIM YAR KHAN: Rahim Yar Khan District Council consists of 139 union councils. Seven municipal committees in the district include Sadiqabad with 44 wards, Rahim Yar Khan 50, Khanpur 39, Liaqatpur 20, Kot Samaba 12, Zahir Pir 17 and Tranda Saway Khan 12 wards.

Up to 1,552 polling stations have been established for 2.10 million voters, of which 80 are high sensitive and 308 sensitive.

There are 3,010 candidates for chairman/vice chairman and councilors slots for 139 union councils, while 868 candidates are vying for 194 wards of seven municipal committees.

MUZAFFARGARH: The district council has 111 union councils while there are nine municipal committees - Kot Addu (32 wards), Muzaffargarh (47 wards), Jatoi (22 wards), Alipur (24 wards), Chowk Sarwar Shaheed (13 wards), Shaher Sultan (11 wards), Sinawan (11 wards), Daira Din Panah (11 wards) and Khangarh (11 wards).

Up to 1,374 polling stations, of them 90 high sensitive and 350 sensitive, have been established for 1.81 million voters.

DERA GHAZI KHAN: The Dera district council has 98 union councils, while Dera Municipal Corporation has 17 seats. The district has two municipal committee - Taunsa Sharif with 20 wards and Kot Chutta 13 wards. To facilitate 1.1 million voters, there will be 988 polling stations, of them 120 have been declared sensitive.

RAJANPUR: The neighbouring Rajanpur District Council has 69 union councils, whereas Jampur Municipal Committee has 13 wards, Rajanpur 12, Rojhan 12, Fazilpur 11 and Kot Mithan 11 wards.

LAYYAH: The Layyah District Council has 48union councils while Choubara Municipal Committee has 14 wards, Karor Lal Eason 13, Fatehpur 11 and Chowk Azam 12 wards.

Up to 199 candidates for chairman/vice chairman are contesting for 48 union councils.

SIALKOT: The Sialkot district administration has declared 85 polling stations high sensitive and 300 others as sensitive, of 1,544 polling stations. For Sialkot District Council, 575 candidates are trying their luck for chairman and vice chairman slots in 124 union councils.

There are 2 million registered voters who will elect their representatives for 124 union councils, 24 union councils of Sialkot Municipal Corporation, 30 wards of Daska Municipal Committee, 20 wards of Sambrial Municipal Committee and 26 wards of Pasrur Municipal Committee Pasrur here.

JHANG: The Jhang district will a contest among 3,391 candidates for councilors in municipal committees of Jhang, Ahmadpur Sial, Shorkot, Garh Maharaja and Athara Hazari, APP adds.

(Fareedullah Chaudhry from Layyah and Abid Mehdi from Sialkot contributed to the report.)

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2015