‘Stay vigilant!’: Hammad Azhar warns polling agents, staff ahead of tomorrow’s by-election

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Hammad Azhar on Saturday issued a number of instructions for his party’s polling agents as well as staff of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for crucial by-election in Lahore’s National Assembly constituency NA-129, slated for Sunday.

NA-129 seat fell vacant after PTI’s Mian Azhar, Hammad’s father, passed away following protracted illness in July.

Hammad issued what he called “important instructions” for polling agents and election staff deputed in NA-129 ahead of Sunday’s by-election.

In his message shared on Saturday, Hammad advised polling agents to ensure that empty Form 45 and Form 46 are present in the election material bags when they are opened in the morning, and that these forms are shown to them, calling it an essential requirement.

He said polling agents must remain present throughout the polling process and during the vote count, adding that ballot boxes should “not be allowed out of sight at any time.”

The PTI leader further stated that obtaining Form 45 according to the final count was the agents’ “constitutional right,” warning that any staff member obstructing this would face “severe legal consequences.”

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He also instructed PTI workers stationed outside polling stations to stay at their camps after voting concludes and “peacefully follow the presiding officer to the returning officer’s office.”

Addressing presiding officers and election staff, Azhar claimed they were facing “intimidation and threats.” He alleged that those exerting pressure were “seeking immunity for themselves and relocating their families abroad,” while pushing staff into “unconstitutional actions.”

 “Stay vigilant,” he told officials, urging them not to take any “serious or illegal step at the behest of any intruder” that could endanger them.

He called on personnel deployed for the by-election to perform their duties on Sunday “as a sacred trust.”

 The NA-129 seat is being contested by Chaudhry Arsalan Ahmad — a nephew of Azhar and the candidate nominated by Hammad, who himself is currently absconding in multiple cases. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has fielded Hafiz Mian Nauman once again, who previously lost to Azhar by a margin of over 30,000 votes in the 2024 general elections.

Meanwhile, the PTI has accused the PML-N-led Punjab government of using rigging tactics to support its candidate in the NA-129 by-election.

As per the electoral body, the constituency has total 558,364 registered voters — 289339 male and 269025 female — and voting will be conducted in 334 polling stations.

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Apart from NA-129, by-election will be held in five other NA and seven Punjab Assembly (PA) constituencies on Sunday.

The by-elections will be held in National Assembly constituencies NA-18 Haripur, NA-96 Faisalabad, NA-104 Faisalabad, NA-143 Sahiwal and NA-185 DG Khan as well.

The Punjab Assembly constituencies include PP-73 Sargodha, PP-87 Mianwali, PP-98 Faisalabad, PP-115 Faisalabad, PP-116 Faisalabad, PP-203 Sahiwal and PP-269 Muzaffargarh.