Two brothers — namesakes of former premier Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif — cast their votes, as Pakistan went to polls today, local media reported.

Brothers Nawaz and Shehbaz exercised their voting right in Rajanpur 2 assembly constituency of the Punjab province.

The duo said their father, Muhammad Sharif, had named them after the PML(N) leaders owing to his "love for the party".

Former prime minister Sharif, the supremo of the PML(N), is in jail for nearly a fortnight after his conviction in a corruption case. His younger brother Shahbaz replaced him as the PML-N president after the elder Sharif was disqualified by a court.

Shehbaz Sharif headed the PML(N) government in Punjab province from 2013 to 2018.

A lookalike of Pakistan's flamboyant cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan created a buzz on Wednesday among the voters as he came out to cast his ballot in the Multan city of the Punjab province.

Donning a white kurta and sporting black shades, the man was seen waving his hand like the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf while taking selfies with the excited people after exercising his franchise.

"Multan: Imran Khan's doppelganger comes out to cast this vote; public gets excited," ARY News tweeted.

The counting of votes has begun and the results will be announced within 24 hours.

More than 30 political parties have fielded their candidates for the elections.

Pakistanis are voting to choose a new government in the second democratic transition of power in the nation's 70-year history amid accusations of manipulation by the powerful army and concerns over the participation of Islamic hardliners in large numbers.

The instances of namesakes and a lookalike lightened the mood of an election marred by violence. At least 31 people were killed, including 28 in a suicide blast outside a polling station in Pakistan's Quetta city and 36 others injured as several incidents of violence were reported as the country went to polls.

In Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, a suicide blast targeting a police van killed at least 28 people, including five policemen, and nearly 30 other were injured in a blast near Quetta's Eastern Bypass, The Express Tribune reported.