FAISALABAD, May 10: Female election staff faced a lot of problems on Friday at the Iqbal Stadium in collection and transportation of election material such as ballot boxes, bags of ballot papers and cardboard for makeshift polling booth.
Bushra Iqbal was one such presiding officer who had to call her family members to the stadium to help her carry the material.
Several female polling staffers had to wait for hours along with their family members to collect the material. They took the material to their homes while their male counterparts went straight to polling stations assigned to them.
The district administration had summoned presiding officers of national and provincial assemblies’ seats at the stadium, session’s court and the District Council Hall for distribution of the election material.
The Election Commission of Pakistan has set up 3,161 polling stations —1267 for males, 1,242 for females and 652 mixed -- for elections for 11 NA and 22 PP seats.
The administration has to set up 13 polling stations in tents owing to lack of buildings.
Like presiding officers, the drivers of the vehicles impounded by the district administration and the policemen have also stories of troubles being faced by them. Vehicles have been arranged to transport election material and drivers of such vehicles had to spend night on roads having no facility.
Rafiq, a driver, told Dawn the administration had seized their vehicles for election duty and forced them to stay with the vehicles so that they could move to their destination as soon as possible. He said they were provided insufficient food.
Policemen were also seen carrying election material.
Nawaz Ali, a constable, said he was deployed along with a presiding officer to guard him and the election material. He had to work as a porter.
This correspondent observed that male and females presiding officers and their allied staff were bundled into the urban wagons along with the election material.
The district government has asked the polling staff to spend night at their polling stations so that balloting could be started timely.