Election material handed over amid tight security

Rawalpindi : The District Returning Officer (DRO) Muhammad Khalid Nawaz received election material including ballot boxes, seals, polling booths, ink, ballot papers and other necessary items here on Tuesday.

The election material has been kept in double lock up in tight security arrangements. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has directly given election material to concerned Returning Officers (ROs) in this regard.

Training of polling staff, screens for compartment and seating arrangements for presiding officers in the constituencies has been completed. The election commission has constituted control room in every constituency of the district where one returning officer (RO) would remain present all the time to monitor the elections and polling activities.

Meanwhile, District Returning Officer (DRO) Muhammad Khalid Nawaz has directed to District Regional Transport Authority (DRTA) Secretary Khalid Yameen Satti to immediately arrange over 1000 buses and wagons to send election material and election staff to concerned polling stations on Election Day.

The District Regional Transport Authority (DRTA) Secretary Khalid Yameen Satti told ‘The News’ that they were continuously negotiating with private transporters to hire wagons and buses. “We will pay Rs4000 to Rs5000 for two days to every bus or wagon,” he added.

It is worth mentioning here that 104 polling stations have been declared as highly sensitive in Rawalpindi district while 91 have been declared as sensitive.

According to officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), polling schedules for the seven national assembly (NA) and 15 provincial assembly constituencies of Rawalpindi district have been finalised.

As many as 75 candidates are competing for the NA seats while 166 candidates are vying for the PA seats. There are seven heavyweight candidates in the running including former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former premier Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, former interior minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Awami Muslim League (AML) Chairman Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Raja Qamarul Islam and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi.

As many as 6,200 polling booths in 2,576 polling stations will be set up in the district. There will be 3,200 polling booths for men and 3,000 for women voters.