QUETTA: Balochistan caretaker Chief Minister Mir Ali Mardan Khan Domki has urged people to exercise their right to vote without any fear.

The CM visited the provincial election control room established at the Home Department on Wednesday and reviewed measures taken for holding general elections today (Thursday) in the province.

Additional Chief Secretary Home Zahid Saleem briefed the meeting regarding the steps taken to monitor the election situation.

Commander-XII Corps Lt Gen Rahat Naseem Ahmad Khan, caretaker Home Minister Mir Zubair Khan Jamali, Provincial Election Commissioner Mohammad Farid Afridi, Chief Secretary Shakeel Qadir Khan and other senior civil and military officials were present on the occasion.

It was informed at the briefing that the delivery of election material by air and road had been completed in all areas of the province, after which the process of handing over the election material to the polling staff had started.

The number of registered voters in Balochistan is 5,371,947. Control rooms have been set up in all divisions and districts headquarters to monitor the situation and restore peace during the election.

The official said that around 70 per cent work of the installation of CCTV cameras in sensitive polling stations linked to the central control room has been completed while the remaining 30pc work will be cleared by Wednesday night.

The process of providing election materials to the polling staff and sending them to the respective locations also started by Wednesday evening.

He added that all the security agencies are active to maintain law and order situation during the elections through mutual coordination. In all, 66,214 jawans of Pakistan Army, FC, police and Levies have been deployed across the province to restore peace during the elections.

CM Domki expressed satisfaction over the arrangements taken for the conduct of elections and said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the provincial government had provided necessary funds to all the deputy commissioners due to which it became easy to complete all the arrangements on time.

He noted that the ECP, considering the scattered population, had provided additional resources to Balochistan as compared to other provinces.

The chief minister said that ordinary crimes, acts of terrorism and incidents related to elections need to be looked at separately.

He said that as compared to previous general elections, the overall law and order situation in Balo­chistan is better than in the past and added that security agencies had foiled many acts of sabotage by taking timely measures.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2024