JULY 30- Mamnoon Hussain (photo), the India-born nominee of ruling PML-N, is set to become the 12th President of Pakistan on Tuesday, succeeding incumbent Asif Ali Zardari.
The election, which was preponed from August 6, will see a one-to-one contest between Hussain and Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tenreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed.
Pakistan People’s Party withdrew its candidate Raza Rabbani and boycotted the election in protest to the date of polls being changed.
Over 1,000 members of the national parliament and four provincial assemblies will cast ballots for largely ceremonial head of the state.
Khursheed Alam, a spokesman of election commission, said the polling will start at 10.00 am and continue with break till 3.00 pm.
The results of the election will be declared on Tuesday itself.
Hussain, 73, a leading businessman from the port city of Karachi, is expected to easily win the poll as the PML-N has a clear majority in the electoral college comprising members of parliament and the four provincial assemblies.
“I will be the President for everybody. I will resign from my party office if I become President,” Hussain, a close aide of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, had said.
Born in the historic city of Agra, Hussain belongs to the Urdu-speaking ethnic group that migrated from India during partition in 1947.
INDIA TODAY
