Polling for by-elections in NA-144 Okara and PP-147 Lahore is underway

Former National Assembly speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq of the PML-N is facing PTI’s Abdul Aleem Khan, who has been described by party chief Imran Khan as a “secret weapon”.

Nearly 20 candidates are contesting the by-election, but the main competition is expected between Sadiq and Pakistan Tehree-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Aleem Khan.

Ayaz Sadiq said he has directed the party workers not to involve in any quarrel with the supporters of the rival parties.

Former Punjab governor and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar on Sunday accused the ruling Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz of using state machinery in the campaign for the NA-122 by-election. “Even WAPDA and railways is campaigning against us here”, Sarwar earlier told reporters outside a polling station. In response, PML-N leader Hamza Shahbaz censured PTI’s politics of sit-in and that the party was wasting the nation’s time.

Further, Sadiq told Reuters that the race was a battle to “prove the very legitimacy of the 2013 election”.

“People are fed up by the PML-N’s empty slogans”, said PTI’s Aleem Khan.

As many as 25 polling stations have been declared sensitive out of the 210 total in the consitutency.

Expressing dissatisfaction on the results, Khan had been demanding an audit of the poll right from the day one.

PML-N candidate Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan is destined to lose in the elections. Section 144 has been imposed by the provincial government in the said constituencies.