KARACHI: Director General (DG) Rangers Major General Bilal Akbar visited several polling stations in NA-246 where by-election will be held on Thursday.
The DG Rangers was briefed on security measures taken in the constituency and the control room set up to monitor CCTV cameras inside polling stations.
Meanwhile, Rangers have refused to use CCTV cameras provided by the Sindh government
By AFP
April 22, 2015
KARACHI: Director General (DG) Rangers Major General Bilal Akbar visited several polling stations in NA-246 where by-election will be held on Thursday.
The DG Rangers was briefed on security measures taken in the constituency and the control room set up to monitor CCTV cameras inside polling stations.
Meanwhile, Rangers have refused to use CCTV cameras provided by the Sindh government to monitor the situation inside polling stations.
The Sindh IT Department had agreed to provide Rangers with 200 cameras. Rangers refused to use these cameras stating that they were outdoor cameras and could not be used inside.
7,000 policemen to be deployed in NA-246
Additional IG Police Ghullam Qadir Thebo has termed by-election in NA-246 as a major challenge for the police.
Speaking to the media, Thebo said 7,000 policemen would be deployed in the constituency to provide security. Thebo informed the media that armoured vehicles would be deployed at sensitive polling stations.
Command and control room established
Authorities have set up a command and control room at the office of the Deputy Commissioner Central to monitor arrangements during by-elections.
The control room began functioning Wednesday morning, a day before the highly-anticipated by-election takes place, and presiding officers had started arriving at the DC office for election material.
Police and other officials will be present during polling day at the control room, which has been equipped with wireless sets, dedicated phone lines and television sets for monitoring.
A police official at the control room said a special hotline – 99260050 – has been set up where citizens can call to complain or inform officials about any irregularities that they notice during the election.
Meanwhile, the ECP and NADRA’s ‘8300 SMS Service’ has been set up to help registered voters in NA-246 to check the status of their votes and particulars. Voters are able to send an SMS to 8300 and receive information about their block code, their registered voter number and polling station.
The by-election is set to take place on Thursday, with electioneering suspended 24 hours before polling day.
A public holiday has been announced in Karachi’s district Central on Thursday to allow citizens to cast their votes.
