Women expected to cast ballot in Dir after a long time

DIR: The arrangements have been finalised in Upper Dir for the July 25 general election as a total of 447,414 voters in the district would cast votes in the polls.

Among the registered voters, about 179,280 women are also expected to cast votes in large numbers.

The women cast votes in the 1970 general election in Upper Dir for the last time and since then they have been deprived of casting ballots in the name of Islam and local traditions.

However, the political parties are now encouraging women to cast votes after the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision that it would declare an election null and void if the number of women voters was less than 10 per cent.

In a bid to facilitate the women voters, the district election commission’s office in Upper Dir has set up 66 polling stations for women in the National Assembly constituency NA-5. The constituency has 377 polling stations in total.

According to the details provided by the district election office, there are 150,518 registered voters in the provincial assembly constituency PK-10, where 123 polling stations would be set up.

The PK-11 has total 148,913 registered voters, including 61,552 women.

This constituency has 125 polling stations and 266 polling booths. The provincial assembly constituency PK-12 has 147,983 registered voters, including 58,572 females.

About 129 polling stations have been established in this constituency.

In the 2013 general election, there were 368,035 registered voters in Upper Dir. However, the number has now increased to 447,414.