MULTAN: In the race for the seat, PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council candidate Taimur Altaf Malik and PPP’s Ali Qasim Gillani are competing.
In the NA-148 by-election in Multan, PPP’s Syed Ali Qasim Gillani leads with 78,270 votes, followed by SIC’s Taimur Altaf Malik with 47,793 votes, based on unofficial and unconfirmed results from 250 out of 275 polling stations. Voting took place from 8 am to 5 pm without interruption.
The Election Commission of Pakistan and the Multan district administration assured that all arrangements were made for a fair election.
A total of 444,231 eligible voters were slated to cast their ballots in the election, with 275 polling stations set up for this purpose. A spokesperson for ECP Punjab assured that robust security measures had been put in place at polling stations, including the installation of surveillance cameras and walk-through gates at sensitive locations.
Among the eight candidates contending for the seat are Barrister Taimur Altaf Malik, supported by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf backed Sunni Ittehad Council, and Ali Qasim Gillani from the Pakistan Peoples Party.
The National Assembly seat became vacant following the election of Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani as a senator. Gillani had narrowly won the seat in the 2024 general elections in a close contest with Malik.
Meanwhile, according to an ECP spokesperson, an Election Monitoring and Control Centre has been established to assist the public in registering complaints related to the ongoing polling.
“Immediate action will be taken to resolve complaints promptly. Trained staff is stationed at the center. Control centers are operational at four levels to efficiently register and address people’s grievances,” the spokesperson stated.
The EMCC has been set up not only at the ECP Secretariat in Islamabad but also at provincial, divisional, and district levels, the ECP official added.
