- There will be 85,307 polling stations across the country, and all of them will be available on Google Map
- Over twenty thousand polling stations have been declared sensitive, and CCTV cameras will be installed inside and outside all these polling stations
ISLAMABAD: Secretary Election Commission Babar Yaqoob says holding of free and fair elections is the prime responsibility of Election Commission and all the other institutions are only assisting it.
He was briefing Senate Standing Committee on Interior in Islamabad today about the security plan for general elections. Rehman Malik chaired the meeting.
The Secretary Election Commission informed the meeting that there will be 85,307 polling stations across the country, and all of them will be available on Google Map.
He said over twenty thousand polling stations have been declared sensitive, and CCTV cameras will be installed inside and outside all these polling stations.
He said three meetings were held with inspector generals of police regarding security. He said the provinces should make CCTV cameras functional by 25th of this month.
The Secretary Election Commission said four hundred fifty thousand policemen and over three hundred thousand army troops will be deployed on the polling day. As many as seven hundred and fifty thousand polling staff will perform the duty.
He said army personnel will assist the Election Commission under the law, and they will work under presiding officers.
The Secretary said for the first time a code of conduct for security personnel has been prepared.
He said for the first time watermarked ballot papers imported from Europe will be used in the elections.
Babar Yaqoob informed the committee that Returning Officers will send results to Election Commission through a special software. He said observers, most of them from EU and Commonwealth, will monitor the elections.
Briefing the Senate Committee on Interior, National Coordinator NACTA Dr. Suleman Khan said sixty-five security alerts had been received so far and they were issued to all political parties. He said there are threats from banned organizations including Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. He said a threat was also received from MQM London.
The coordinator said all intelligence committees at district levels should be made functional.
DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor told the meeting that Army is only working to maintain law and order on ECP’s directives to ensure peaceful polling.
He said the army has nothing more to do with the election.
Major General Asif Ghafoor said 371,000 personnel of armed forces will perform election duty on 857,000 polling stations across the country.
He said two security personnel each will be deployed inside and outside a polling station.