LAHORE: The Election Commission of Pakistan s (ECP) has registered 24,000 new voters in National Assembly Constituency NA-120, the seat vacated after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification by Supreme Court (SC) last week.
According to the data published by ECP, there was an increase of 24,000 voters recorded in NA-120 since the last general election. The total number of votes in 2013 general elections was 297,000. The increase in the number of votes was recorded during the period after the elections until December 2016. From January 2017 to July 2017, only 65 new voters were registered. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was initially nominated by the party to contest the NA-120 seat. However, media sources now claim that Shahbaz will likely continue working as the Punjab chief minister while Kulsoom Nawaz, Nawaz Sharif s wife, is being considered as the possible PML-N candidate against Dr Yasmin Rashid of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The by-election in the said constituency will be held on September 17. Meanwhile, PTI’s candidate for the said constituency Dr Yasmin Rashid has said that markets around Bund Road are being forcefully shut down by the authorities over the arrival of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Lahore. She said that the Punjab Chief Minister had told land revenue officials to gather people with flags to welcome Nawaz Sharif. “The authorities may use all the state machinery in the constituency but it is of no use as the poor have finally decided to stand against the Sharif monarchy,” she said. She challenged Shahbaz Sharif to contest the NA-120 by-poll against her from the constituency. Dr Rashid said that PTI won’t let the government rig the election this time.
Published in Daily Times, August 6th 2017.
