IN the recently-held general elections, a lot of complaints were lodged against the polling staff. They either did not reach in time or they did not follow the correct procedure during polling process.

The polling staff comprised polling officers, presiding officers and assistant presiding officers plus, of course, the district returning officers.

Most of the lower polling staff was drawn from schoolteachers who are mostly in the habit of doing illegal things to overcome their financial hardships.

Hence the old and experienced contesting candidates made full use of their weakness, i.e., money.

To solve this problem of mass-scale corruption during elections, our country has a huge number of trained manpower in the shape of retired army personnel who can be employed on such national duties to include elections and natural disasters.

It is disciplined manpower and less attracted towards illegal practices.

They are also less likely to be intimidated by future parliamentarians as they have nothing at stake after the elections.

It is hoped the ECP and the government would think on this proposal for utilising retired army personnel in future national events.

M.AZHAR
Lahore