PESHAWAR, Aug 8: Provincial Election Commissioner (PEC) Mohammad Altaf Khan has said that elaborate and foolproof arrangements have been made for fair and transparent general election in October.
He was talking to a 10-member delegation of the Aurat Foundation’s Legislative Watch Group and journalists, who called on him here on Thursday to discuss the women-related issues in the general election.
He said a total of 1826 polling stations would be established in the NWFP and the number of polling booths for the women would be 9470. Mr Khan said that women staff would be deployed at all the women’s polling stations and booths to ensure peaceful conditions for women contestants and voters.
In reply to a question about the women’s disfranchisement in the local government elections and fears of a repeat of the same in the general poll, Mr Altaf hoped that there would be no recurrence of such sorrowful practice in the coming elections.
“There is a lot of difference between local elections and the national elections. The clan politics in local government elections created problems in the initial phases of the LB polls and the women were facing numerous problems in the urban areas of the province.
“The male voters also faced problems due to the presence of six ballot papers in the local bodies elections which created confusion. The system was a new one and that caused confusion among the voters,” he said, adding that now he firmly believed that there would be no recurrence of such problems.
About women’s seats in the NWFP assembly, the provincial election commissioner said that the women would have 22 seats in the assembly. He said that non-governmental organizations championing the cause of the women, should strive hard for stronger women representation in the elections. In response to a question, Mr Altaf said that applications for allotment of symbols would be received till Aug 12 and the election schedule was expected to be announced on 15th of this month.
In reply to a question about the local government by-elections schedule for the women’s vacant seats, Mr Altaf said by-elections for those seats would be held after the general election.
“A good number of seats remained vacant as there were no candidates. The minority seats can be cited as example,” he said.
Earlier, Aimal Khan, Coordinator, Legislative Watch Programme of the Aurat Foundation, briefed the provincial election commissioner about the objectives of the programme and purpose of the visit. The Effective Representation of Women Councillors (ERWC) and Information Network Centres (INCs) staff also informed the PEC about their respective programmes.
The delegation comprised Aimal Khan, Saima Muneer, Uzma Mehboob, Anila Naheed, Dr Meera Jan, Dr Stephen Saleem, Shahida Perveen, Waseem Ahmad Shah, Tanzeelur Rehman and Aftab Ahmad.