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NA-77 By-Election Today: 11 Candidates, 518,620 VotersPakistan
More than 518,000 registered voters in Gujranwala are choosing a new National Assembly member today, in a by-election called after the death of PML-N MNA Mahmood Bashir Virk.
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Polling is under way in Gujranwala today, where 11 candidates are contesting the by-election for the National Assembly seat of NA-77. Voters began casting their ballots on Sunday morning to elect a successor to Chaudhry Mehmood Bashir Virk, the long-serving PML-N parliamentarian whose death in September left the constituency without representation in the lower house.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, 518,620 voters are registered in the constituency, including 277,480 men and 241,140 women. A total of 333 polling stations have been set up across NA-77, comprising 142 male, 137 female and 54 combined stations, with 963 polling booths in all, 536 for men and 427 for women.
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The main contest is widely seen as a two-way fight. The PML-N has fielded Rashid Bashir Virk, the son of the late MNA, while the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League has nominated Qazi Muhammad Ibrahim Gujjar. Tayyab Mahmood of the Pakistan Ideological Party is also in the race, along with independent candidates Ulfat Rasool Warraich and Manzoor Qadir Bhinder, among others.
Tight security as polling day unfolds
Security has been tightened across the constituency for polling day. The federal government approved the deployment of the Pakistan Army and Punjab Rangers for the by-elections in NA-77 Gujranwala and PP-203 Sahiwal, with troops deployed from 7 to 9 November to cover polling day and the days immediately before and after it.
The run-up to polling was not without controversy. The Election Commission issued a notice to Information Minister Attaullah Tarar over an alleged violation of the election code of conduct during the campaign, after reports that he visited the constituency by helicopter and addressed a gathering. The minister and the PML-N candidate were summoned to appear before the district monitoring officer at 11am on polling day, and the commission warned that the constituency result could be withheld until a final decision is reached.
NA-77 covers parts of Gujranwala city and its surrounding areas, including Gujranwala Cantt, Qila Deedar Singh, Rahwali and Ludhiana Warraich. According to reports from the constituency, voters have raised broken roads, health and education facilities, clean drinking water and sewage as the main problems facing the area, and candidates were pressed on these issues throughout the campaign.
In the 2024 general election, Mahmood Bashir Virk won the seat for the PML-N with 109,704 votes, while Rashida Tariq finished second with 91,825 votes, a margin of 17,879 votes. The PML-N will be hoping to hold on to a seat it has controlled for years, while its rivals are aiming to turn the by-election into an upset.
Polling will continue through the day, with counting to follow once voting closes. The formal declaration of the result may be delayed if the Election Commission’s review of the alleged code of conduct violation is still under way.
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