The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday issued a notification directing the defence ministry to deploy army personnel during the by-polls at the NA-120 constituency.

The NA-120 seat fell vacant following the disqualification of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Panama Papers case. The election in this constituency will take place on September 17.

PML-N's Kulsoom Nawaz and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)'s Dr Yasmeen Rashid are among the main contenders.

The ECP has decided to deploy army personnel in and outside the voting stations during the polling process. The army personnel have been asked to remain at the stations until the counting of votes.

Earlier, PPP and PTI had demanded the ECP to deploy army personnel during the polling process to ensure transparency as well as to maintain law and order.

The returning officer for the constituency had also also appealed to the authorities to deploy army men during the polling.