PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has said that army soldiers will be deployed only inside sensitive polling stations. The stations which are not declared sensitive, army soldiers will remain outside to provide security.
This was revealed during a meeting held at ECP office on Tuesday which was chaired by Chief Election Commissioner. Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the returning officers of all the tribal districts also participated in the meeting and informed the high officials about the actual situation on the ground.
The Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan has said that all the preparations for the tribal districts election have already been completed and the commission is ready to conduct fair and free elections in tribal districts on July 20.
The ECP head has expressed concerns over the complaints of candidates that section 144 has been imposed ahead of the election in some areas due to which the candidates are unable to run their election campaign. On this, the chief secretary informed that they have already lifted section 144 to allow the candidates to run their campaign without any restriction.
The Chief Election Commissioner has directed the government to take extra care and not provide any development funds ahead of the election. It was further directed to ensure that the government machinery is not used. The returning officers were also directed to be vigilant and take notices of the violation of the election code of conduct. Regarding the installation of security cameras on the polling station, it was informed that all the efforts will be made to install surveillance cameras on all the polling stations.
The Chief Election Commissioner has said that all efforts are being made to provide facilities to women voters. For this purpose, he added, women security staff will be deployed in women polling stations along with women polling staff.
