BAHAWALPUR: As electioneering came to an end last night, all is set for the general election on five National Assembly and 10 provincial assembly constituencies of Bahawalpur region today (Wednesday) with a close contest expected between the rival parties’ candidates.

In district’s three NA constituencies of NA-170 (Bahawalpur-I), NA-171 (Bahawalpur-II) and NA-174 (Bahawalpur-V),a three-way contest is likely among the potential contenders while in two in NA-172(Bahawalpur-III) and NA-173(Bahawalpur-IV) there could a close fight between the two rivals.

In-NA-170 (Bahawalpur city), a three-way distribution of 360,608 votes could take place among the PML-N’s Baleeghur Rehman, PTI’s Farooq Azam Malik and MMA’s Dr Syed Waseem Akhtar.

In the PP-246 of NA-170, only two contenders, namely PML-N’s Dr Rana Tariq and PTI’s Samiullah Chaudhry, seem to be in the real run. In PP-245, an encounter could take place between PTI’s Muhammad Asghar Joya and PML-N’ Malik Zaheer Iqbal Channar.

In NA-171 (Bahawalpur-II), comprising tehsils of Hasilpur and Khairpur, main election battle is going to be between three candidates, PML-N’s Mian Riaz Hussain Peerzada, PTI’s Chaudhry Naeemuddin Warraich and independent candidate, Tariq Cheema. In its attached PP-247, Riaz’s nephew Kazim Ali Peerzada is running for the third consecutive term and he is considered a favourite against PTI’s Syed Belal Mustafa Gardezi and Muhammad Nawaz (independent) while in PP-248 former MPA PML-N’s Afzal Gill is in the contest against PTI’s Syed Ali Zain Bokhari.

In NA-172, a clash is expected between the arch rivals of PML-N’s Saood Majid Chaudhry and PML-Q’s Tariq Cheema. In the attached PP-249, PML-Q’s Ehsanul Haq and the PML-N’s Khalid Mehmood Jajja are the main contestants.

In NA-173, PTI’s Khadija Warren may have an edge over other candidates followed by former PML-N’s MNA Najeebuddin Owaisi and PPP’s Syed Ali Gilani. In PP-251 which comes under the same constituency, Jahanzeb Warren of the PTI and Malik Khalid Mehmood Babar of the PML-N may prove most real contestants.

In PP-252, real fight could be between former MPAs of the PML-N’ Shoaib Owaisi and the PPP’s Shah Rukh Malik besides the PTI’s Malik Ahmad Usman Nawaz.

In the last NA-174, votes may be shared by three potential candidates Bahawal Abbasi, followed by Sami Gilani of the PTI and Syed Ali Hassan Gilani of the PPP.

In PP-253, out of 11 candidates, the fight could be between Hussain Ali Durrani (Grand Democratic Alliance), Sahibzada Muhammad Gazain Abbasi (PTI) and Qazi Adnan Farid (PML-N) while in PP-254, out of eight candidates, the contest will be between the PTI’s Makhdoom Syed Iftikhar Gilani, PML-N’s Zahid Mehmood and PPP’s Syed Aamir Shah.

MATERIAL: Regional election commissioner A.K. Mussarat says election material, including the ballots, had been handed over to all the presiding officers in three districts of the region.

He said the presiding officers along with their polling staff left for their respective destinations of the polling stations across the division.

CONTROL ROOM: All the 3,168 polling stations have been linked with the digital district control room set up in the office of deputy commissioner.

This was stated by Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Ayub Khan at a media briefing at the control room. He said with this district control room, effective monitoring of polling stations including those of sensitive areas would be carried out during the polling process.

TERRORISTS: The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) claims to have arrested three terrorists, allegedly planning a terror attack in the city.

In a press release, the CTD claimed to have arrested Aziz Khan, Sher Afzal and Ayub Khan, belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and recovered hand grenades, explosive material, electric detonators and ball bearings from them.

A case was registered against the suspects and they were shifted to an unidentified place for further interrogation.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2018