KARACHI, Dec 2: In Sindh, according to Provincial Election Commissioner Qamaruzzaman Chaudhry, there would be over 16,000 polling stations, including 3,600 in Karachi division, while the final list of candidates for the January 8, 2008 general elections would be published on Dec 16.

The number of presiding officers would be equal in number to the polling stations. There would be 67 returning officers, including 23 in Karachi, while over 60,000 transparent ballot boxes would be used.

For each polling station there would be one presiding officer and one polling officer, along with two assistant presiding officers and two assistant polling officers.

The re-orientation and training of the presiding officers, assistant presiding officers and polling officers and assistant polling officers would start from Dec 8 locally in every tehsil and town, while it would be completed by Dec 18.

In Karachi, where the total number of voters is over six million, with 3,812,461 male and 2,814,239 females, there are 20 constituencies of the National Assembly and 42 of the Sindh Provincial Assembly. According to the Election Commission, in Sindh, against 61 seats of the National Assembly, 990 nomination papers were filed while against 168 seats of the Sindh Assembly, 2,293 aspirants have jumped into the fray.

In Karachi, where 20 seats are up for grabs in the National Assembly, 299 candidates had filed nomination papers while in the Sindh Assembly, for 42 seats there are 678 candidates, including 10 women, who had filed nomination papers to contest from general seats.

The polling stations are being set up in government-owned buildings, mostly in schools, colleges, offices, community centres, union council offices etc. Where government-owned buildings are not available, the polling stations are to be located in the buildings of autonomous bodies, semi-autonomous bodies and corporations.

According to the scheme of polling stations, the number of voters would not be more than 1,200 per polling station.

In Sindh, the total strength of voters on the eve of the 2002 general elections was over 16.1 million, in which there was an increase of over 3.1 million voters, resulting in the current total of 19.5 million.

In Karachi, including Malir district, the total voters on the eve of 2002 was around five million, which has increased to over six million presently.