PESHAWAR: Secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan Umar Hameed Khan on Monday asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to ensure foolproof security at the women’s polling stations for the second phase of local body elections in 18 districts of the province.

During a high-level meeting here, he also called for the deployment of women health workers, women officials of the education department and women volunteers at those polling stations on the election day (March 31), according to an official statement.

The meeting was called here to review security arrangements for the local body elections.

The participants included chief secretary Dr Shehzad Bangash, police chief Moazzam Jah Ansari, secretaries of the local government, home and finance departments, special secretary of the ECP, provincial election commissioner, and other senior officials.

CCTV cameras should be installed at sensitive polling stations: official

The ECP secretary asked the provincial government to install CCTV cameras at sensitive polling stations.

He said that the provincial government should release funds at the earliest to the officers, who had requested for them regarding the holding of elections.

The secretary also ordered safe distribution of the polling material to and pick and drop facility for the polling staff.

“Election results should be declared at polling stations and the copies of results should be provided to the agents of candidates to ensure transparency of the electoral exercise,” he said.

The secretary said that under Article 220 of the Constitution, it was the provincial government’s responsibility to help the ECP hold peaceful, fair and transparent elections.

He said that the government was also required to provide facilities to the vulnerable groups of society on the polling day.

Briefing the meeting, provincial election commissioner Mohammad Raziq said that elections would be held in 65 tehsil councils of 18 districts on March 31 with over eight million people having their right to vote.

He said that a total of 6,176 polling stations had been set up for elections and of them, 1,646 had been declared very sensitive and 2,326 sensitive in term of security.

The PEC informed the meeting that there were 28,020 candidates for local body elections and 651 of them were contesting for the slots of city and tehsil council mayors and chairmen.

He also said that 12,980 nominees of political parties and independents were running for the general seats of village and neighbourhood councils, 2,668 for women’s, 6,451 for the peasants’, 5,213 for the youths’, and only 57 for those of non-Muslims in village and neighbourhood councils.

The police chief told the meeting that the department had made proper arrangements to ensure security at all polling stations from very sensitive to sensitive to normal ones.

The districts, where local body elections will be held in the second phase, include Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Torghar, Lower and Upper Kohistan, Kolai-Palas, Swat, Malakand, Shangla, Lower and Upper Dir, Upper and Lower Chitral, Kurram, Orakzai, and North and South Waziristan.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2022