PESHAWAR, Aug 3: The capital city police have chalked out an extraordinary security plan for 70 polling stations in the provincial metropolis after declaring them “highly sensitive” for the forthcoming local body election to be held on August 18. According to official sources, the city police declared 70 polling stations to be “highly sensitive” and placed 419 in the category of “sensitive” out of a total number of 811 polling stations to be established in the city.

The capital city police on Wednesday issued a security plan to ensure safety of the candidates, the Election Commission staff and party workers during the polls, these sources maintained. The sources said that a total number of 242 platoons of the city police, Frontier Reserve Police and Frontier Constabulary would be deployed on election days while the Frontier Corps would remain as a stand-by force which would be called in only in case of a law and order situation.

The highly sensitive polling stations included eight in Chamkani area, six in Faqirabad, 20 in Yakatoot, four in Bhana Mari, one in Hayatabad, 11 in Badhber and 20 in Matani localities. The city police will establish temporary checkpoints at 40 different places in the city to keep a vigilant eye on anti-social elements on the polling day. The movement of Afghan refugees in the city is to be restricted on the day of election, they said.

Rider squad and mobile police would keep patrolling all sensitive areas from morning till late evening to ensure the safety of public. The sources said that the city police were asked to keep a special check in and around TV and radio stations; Khyber, Cantonment and City telephone exchanges, and grid stations at Tehkal, Shahi Bagh and Aman Cinema.

Hotels and inns in the city will be checked before the polling days to avert any untoward incident. The capital city police will also share information with other law enforcement and security agencies to ensure smooth polling.

Ambulance services at all main hospitals in the city have also been instructed to remain alert. The police was also given the responsibility to ensure the safety of the Election Commission staff who after the end of the polling will hand over all ballot boxes to the district returning officer.