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ISLAMABAD: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan has said that the local government polls whose third and final phase in Punjab and Sindh was held on Saturday could be considered better than the 2013 general elections because of the deployment of well-trained staff and efficient security measures.
In a video message after the polling, he said the Election Commission had successfully accomplished the task of holding another phase of elections in Punjab and Sindh on Saturday.
Retired Justice Khan said that the ECP, fulfilling its responsibility under Article 140-A of the Constitution, had held LG elections on April 25 in cantonment boards and on May 30 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The polls in Punjab and Sindh were held in three phases — on Oct 31, Nov 19 and Dec 5. The local bodies elections in Islamabad were held on Nov 30.
The CEC said the elections had taken place in 83,893 constituencies of 95 districts, contested by 305,431 candidates, and 82,840,135 registered voters exercised their right to vote.
In the general elections, 15,629 candidates had contested in 849 constituencies with 80 million voters.
Around 300,000 polling staff performed their duties at 69,801 polling stations and 180m ballot papers were printed.
The CEC said the volume of the LG polls was much wider than the general elections.
The ECP, he said, had made special arrangements for the polls, besides training and supervision of the staff.
As many as 122,648 presiding and assistant presiding officers were trained in phases to ensure timely supply of polling material and holding of the elections fairly through trained staff, he said.
He said the input of polling staff also made the training process more efficient.
During the polls, 2,741 district returning officers, ROs and assistant ROs performed their duties along with 690,624 polling staff at 70,941 polling stations.
He said 171 companies of the army, 15,000 personnel of Rangers and 450,648 of police were deployed to maintain law and order during the polling.
Around Rs3.8 billion was spent on the polling process, he said.
Thanking the army, Rangers, police, the media, polling staff and ECP officers, the election commissioner expressed the hope that state institutions would continue extending cooperation to the commission in the future.
Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2015
