LAHORE, Sept 4: District Coordination Officers (DCOs) are making arrangements for elections instead of defunct deputy commissioners without any legal powers, hierarchical team and authority to coordinate with police to maintain law and order.

In the past general elections, the arrangements used to be made by the defunct deputy commissioners who had all the relevant legal powers, a team of magistrates and a natural liaison with police regarding the law and order arrangements and protection to the polling staff.

Now the police would look after the elections independent of the district administration for the first time in the history of Pakistan and their stance especially on the polling day was considered to be important for the results.

The outcome of the elections depended on the amount of neutrality by police. Previously their role was important before the elections which was now on the very polling day, officials said here on Wednesday.

They said though the past general elections had been conducted by the judiciary, these were the deputy commissioners who used to make arrangements for them.

The deputy commissioners would provide lists of the polling staff to the returning officers for notification, maintain law and order and transport the polling staff.

Sending the polling staff to the polling stations and collecting the election material from the election commission and distributing it among the staff was their duty.

They also used to coordinate with the police for security arrangements and arrange for food and accommodation, if required, for the polling staff. Above all their teams of magistrates used to maintain law and order on the polling day, to help the presiding officers seal bags of ballot papers and then accompany them to their respective returning officers.

Police used to coordinate with the district administration regarding the implementation of the security plan.

The officials said besides having a team of magistrates and their own clerical and ministerial staff, the deputy commissioners could under the law seek manpower from the local government and educations department and even from banks for election duty.

Now, the officials said, most of these functions were being performed by the DCOs without any legal authority. Many of them performing the job half-heartedly knowing that they could not question anybody in their staff or police for failing to perform any assigned task.

They said none of the DCOs or their staff had powers to resolve a conflict if any before or on the polling day and it was supposed that this would now be done by police alone.

The administration and management was previously the responsibility of the deputy commissioner. The police were not answerable to the DCO and the fate of the election day depended on their perceived neutral authority.

“Except for the police no-one else has the legal authority to enter the polling station to resolve a conflict or shoot a trouble. And therefore their semblance of neutrality towards all candidates will decide the outcome of the elections,” the officials said. —IH