ISLAMABAD: The Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) has withdrawn over 150 officials from polling day duty on July 25, leaving the district returning officer (DRO) with no option but to call the reserved staff from other departments.

Sources privy to the development told Dawn about 9,000 officials of different departments including the army, sessions court, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), federal ministries, government banks and others were assigned different election duties.

The lion’s share was contributed by the FDE deploying staff from different schools and colleges of the federal capital on election duty.

But on Wednesday, the directorate informed the DRO that over 150 employees could not perform the elections duty. The sources said the FDE sought exemption of these officials saying that majority of them had been proceeded to perform Hajj while few of them had retired after attaining the age of superannuation.

The sources said that since the reasons were genuine, therefore, the DRO for Islamabad, district and sessions judge Sohail Nasir summoned the reserved staff to bridge the sudden gap.

Even the peons of the sessions court who were on standby were directed to perform duties on elections day, the sources added.

There are three constituencies of the National Assembly from Islamabad: NA-52, 53 and 54.

NA-52 may be divided as the eastern Islamabad, NA-53 central Islamabad comprising urban areas and NA-54 the western areas of the federal capital that included some urban and rural areas.

Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan and ex prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi are contesting from NA-53.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2018