KARACHI: The by-election on Karachi’s NA-240 seat will be held tomorrow (Thursday) amid tight security by Rangers.

The death felt vacant following the death of MQM-P MNA Iqbal Muhammad Ali Khan. As many as 18 candidates from MQM-P, seven other political parties and independents are taking part in the by-elections. The constituency comprises 529,855 voters including 294,385 male and 235,470 female voters. The ECP has established 309 polling stations and 1,236 polling booths.

The ECP said that the ballot papers have been printed while CCTV cameras are being installed at the sensitive polling stations. Police will be deployed at every polling station while Rangers will serve as a quick response force.

The polling material is being distributed among the staff and by evening, the staff and the material will be sent to the polling stations, the commission said. The ECP will establish a control room in Islamabad to review all arrangements with regard to the polling process. It is pertinent to mention here that ECP had declared all polling stations for the National Assembly constituency NA-240 as sensitive.

The ECP had declared 203 polling stations in the constituency very sensitive out of 309 polling stations while the remaining 106 polling stations have been declared ‘sensitive’. The election commission had established 182 polling stations in Korangi and 127 in the Landhi area for the by-election.

Earlier, the Interior Ministry has ordered the deployment of Rangers outside polling stations for by-election of Karachi’s NA-240 seat from June 15 to 17. The Rangers deployment order was issued on the request of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to ensure peace at all polling stations of NA-240 which had been declared sensitive by it.