Geo News begins election transmission

LAHORE: The Geo News formally launched its special ‘Election 2018 Headquarters’ transmission on Tuesday.

Earlier, the Geo News had comprehensively covered Election 2008, Election 2013, and now in 2018, it would again lead the other TV channels in wide coverage of the general election, being held on July 25. The first show of the transmission was hosted by Rabia Anam and Muneeb Farooq. Rabia said most reputable and experienced analysts would be part of the transmission and political leaders and election candidates would be asked questions about their performance in the past and future plans.

The special transmission would run from Monday to Friday every week. The incharge of the Election 2018 Headquarters, Suhail Warraich said the Geo News is taking forward its tradition of special election transmission. He said the transmission would have full support from all news professionals who work really hard in their respective areas. All those appearing on the Geo News screen have earned a name through sheer hard work. He said the staff would collect reports from all constituencies across the country and present them for the viewers of the Geo News.

Muneeb Farooq said one of the issues being discussed currently is the allotment of election symbol ‘Jeep’ to a large number of politicians contesting the upcoming polls as Independent candidates. Another host Aasia said all arrangements have been completed at the Geo News Islamabad Bureau office to conduct the Election 2018 transmission. Shahab Umar from Quetta told the hosts at the headquarters that reporters and staff at the Election Cell Quetta were working day and night to make arrangements for providing the latest information about election activities to the headquarters. Shahadat Hussain in Multan said election activities are gaining momentum in his city and all parties and candidates are holding corner meetings and rallies.

Qaseem Saeed from Karachi said certainly Geo News is going to conduct the biggest election 2018 transmission in the days to come. He said as Karachi is the Geo News headquarters, news staff there is busy round the clock to complete all arrangements. Anchorperson Muhammad Junaid said the entire Geo team is ready to collect information, news stories about election campaigns and comments by experts to keep its viewers upto date. Senior analyst Talat Hussain said the decision against Nawaz Sharif in Avenfield reference would be announced on July 6 while he is going through tough times. How would the PML-N take this verdict as a party and what strategy does Mian Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz have, would be the big stories before the elections. He said these could be such big stories which could disrupt even the normal election coverage.

Hamid Mir said everybody believes that the court would pronounce a verdict against Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz on July 6. However, if Nawaz returns to Pakistan before elections, it would benefit the PML-N. Saleem Safi said elections normally are a good omen for democracy. But this time around, it is feared that they may prove to be a bad omen not only for democracy but also even for the country.