Polling is under way in two Punjab constituencies on Sunday, as voters in Gujranwala and Chichawatni cast their ballots in by-elections for the National Assembly seat NA-77 and the Punjab Assembly seat PP-203, with voting scheduled to continue without a break until 5pm.
Both seats fell vacant after the deaths of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lawmakers who held them, and both are now being contested by the late lawmakers' sons, who are standing on the PML-N ticket in what has become a closely watched test of the ruling party's support in central Punjab.
In NA-77 Gujranwala, around 518,000 registered voters are eligible to vote at 333 polling stations, including 142 stations for men, 137 for women and 54 combined stations, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan. Eleven candidates are in the race, although 18 had filed nomination papers for the seat.
The PML-N has fielded Rashid Bashir Virk, the son of former MNA Chaudhry Mehmood Bashir Virk, whose death on 11 September after a prolonged illness left the seat vacant. Virk was a five-time member of the National Assembly, and his son now carries the party's hopes of holding a constituency the family has represented for years.
Among the other contenders are Qazi Ibrahim Gujjar of the Markazi Muslim League and independent candidate Ulfat Rasool Warraich. The Pakistan Peoples Party has not fielded a candidate, the Jamaat-i-Islami has also stayed out, and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is boycotting the by-election, leaving the contest largely between the PML-N and the Markazi Muslim League.
In the 2024 general election, Mehmood Bashir Virk won NA-77 with 109,704 votes, defeating his closest rival Rashida Tariq, who polled 91,825 votes, a winning margin of 17,879 votes. That result is the benchmark against which Sunday's outcome will be measured, and a narrow win or a surprise upset would both be read as signals about the PML-N's standing in its Punjab heartland.
The by-election has already drawn the Election Commission's attention. On Saturday, the commission took notice of an alleged violation of the code of conduct by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar during campaigning in NA-77, seeking reports from the district monitoring officer and the district election commissioner and directing Tarar to appear before it in person. The commission has also said the result of the constituency could be withheld until a final decision is made on the matter.
Meanwhile, in PP-203 Chichawatni in Sahiwal district, 258,122 registered voters are casting ballots at 185 polling stations, where around 1,370 polling personnel, including 574 women and 796 men, have been deployed. Seven candidates are contesting the provincial assembly seat.
The PML-N candidate is Chaudhry Asad Hanif Jutt, the son of the late MPA Chaudhry Muhammad Hanif Jutt, who died of cardiac arrest on 17 September. The seat has a complicated recent history: it was first won by independent candidate Rai Murtaza Iqbal, backed by the PTI, with 55,874 votes against Jutt's 35,163, before Jutt won the by-election held on 23 November 2025 with 46,820 votes. Asad Jutt now faces Owais Mahmood Gujjar of Tehreek-e-Ahsas Pakistan and several independent candidates, in a contest expected to be close.
Strict security arrangements have been put in place at polling stations in both constituencies, and election officials say counting will begin as soon as polling closes at 5pm. The results, when they arrive, will fill two seats in the National and Punjab assemblies and offer the first electoral reading of Punjab's political mood since the 2024 general election, even though the overall balance of power in either house will not change.
