Lahore: 711 polling stations declared as sensitive

In this file photo, a Pakistani female voter presses her inked thumb onto a ballot paper before she casts her vote at a polling station in Islamabad on May 11, 2013. (AAMIR QURESHI/AFP)

• Election Commission of Pakistan declared 20,000 polling stations as sensitive across the country
• Military will deploy 371,388 troops at polling stations across the country for three days to ensure free, fair and transparent general elections on July 25

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has declared 711 polling stations as sensitive in Lahore, the country’s second most populous city and the capital of Punjab.
Pakistan’s leading English daily newspaper The Nation and other media outlets reported on Tuesday that for the July 25 general elections the ECP decided to install 2,886 closed-circuit television cameras on 711 sensitive polling stations in Lahore.
The ECP officials held a meeting with military and other law enforcement officers in Lahore on Monday to access the security arrangements ahead of the polls. Twenty to 25 military personnel will be deployed on reportedly sensitive polling stations, the convention decided.
The ECP has categorized polling stations as normal, sensitive, and highly sensitive, and nearly 20,000 polling stations have been categorized as sensitive across the country.
Last week, the army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor told reporters that the military has “no direct role” in the electoral process but announced it was deploying 371,388 troops across the country for three days at polling stations to ensure free, fair and transparent general elections on July 25.
The ECP has delegated six tasks to the army, including maintenance of overall security of the country, provision of security to printing presses, and aiding transportation of the ballot papers.