Pakistanis on Thursday began voting in the general elections to elect a new government to rule the cash-strapped country amid speculation that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's PML-N may emerge as the largest party in Parliament as it is backed by the powerful military (Pics/AFP)
Updated On: 2024-02-08 12:44 PM IST
Compiled by : ronak mastakar
The polling started at 8.00 AM and will continue without any break till 5.00 PM. A countrywide public holiday has been declared to enable a total of 128,585,760 registered voters to cast their votes
The counting will start soon after the conclusion of the voting
Nearly 650,000 security personnel have been deployed across the country as more than 12.85 crore registered voters will cast their ballots at 90,000 polling stations. Pakistan has decided to temporarily suspend the mobile service due to the threat of militancy
With former prime minister Imran Khan in jail, Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is tipped to emerge as the single largest party in the elections
Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidates are contesting the polls independently after the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the election commission to deprive his party of its iconic election symbol cricket 'bat'
In a brief pre-recorded message, the jailed founding chairman of PTI urged voters to use their ballot
"Make sure you come out and Vote in huge numbers tomorrow," he was quoted as saying in a video posted on his X handle
Sharif, 74, will be eying the premiership for a record fourth time
The contest also involves the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who has been declared as the party's prime minister face
