KARACHI, Feb 18: Election staff, mostly drawn from amongst the teachers of government schools and colleges, performed their duty at various polling stations amidst fear of violence and poll-related clashes.

The fears prevailed despite a blanket deployment of rangers and police at all polling stations and army troops, who were on standby to prevent violence in the city, as well as assurances from President Musharraf and Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Qazi Mohammed Farooq that no one would be allowed to disrupt the election process.

A number of polling officers and staff, particularly women, complained that they were deputed at the polling stations, which were set up quite far from their residence, while their request for provision of official transport was not acceded to. In absence of public transport, they said, they faced immense hardship in reaching their duty place at their own.

The worst sufferers, however, were the polling officers and presiding officers deputed at those polling stations, which were set up in and around the city’s katchi abadis and far-off areas such as Gadap, Malir, KDA Scheme-33, Landhi, Korangi, Baldia and even some parts of Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

Anticipating that there will be no public transport on the polling day, most of the election staff had reached their respective polling stations by Sunday evening. A female presiding officer, who was assigned the election duty at a government school situated near Pehalwan Goth in Gulistan Jauhar, said that she and her staff reached the polling station in the wee hours of Monday. But, she said, they had to spend the night amidst fear of violence as the polling station was located at an isolated place and there was complete darkness around.

A similar complaint was received from the polling staff deputed at a school in Essa Nagri, located near milk plant graveyard.

Polling officers complained that the authorities while assigning them the election duty considered neither their place of work nor the locality they reside in and as such most of them had to suffer a lot in reaching their respective polling stations.

Except for those who were assigned the duties of presiding officers, other polling staff was supposed to reach directly to the polling stations concerned at their own. The presiding officers, however, were required to collect the election material from the returning officers offices from where buses and minibuses, which the election commission had requisitioned for the purpose, were to take them to the polling stations concerned. In most cases, polling staff had to reach the places of their duty at their own and since no public transport was available they had to ask their friends and relatives to drop them at the places of their duties.

A junior officer working in the city government’s education department and whose office is situated in the Civic Centre complained that he lived in the old city area but he was assigned the duty of a presiding officer at a polling station set up in a government school in Malir.