KARACHI, Dec 6: The Pakistan Election Commission on Thursday started sending transparent ballot boxes to all district headquarters as EC secretary Kanwar Mohammed Dilshad visited the Pipri railway station where 0.43 million ballot boxes were being stored.

These transparent ballot boxes, with green lids for National Assembly ballots and white lids for ballots pertaining to provincial assembly seats, will be used for the first time in Pakistan during the upcoming Jan 8 elections.

It is hoped that they will contribute towards the credibility of the balloting process.

Sindh Provincial Election Commissioner Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, who accompanied Mr Dilshad, said that the supply of ballot boxes will be completed in ten days. “They will then be distributed to the polling stations,” he said.

Mr Chaudhry said that the EC secretary also held meetings with officials of departments responsible for the printing of ballot papers etc.

The provincial election commissioner said that about one lakh ballot boxes would be used in Sindh since each polling booth would have two boxes. He added that the boxes would be protected with serialised plastic security seals.