All set for landmark KP tribal districts polls tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan has completed preparations for the landmark polling for 16 seats of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s tribal districts on July 20 with deployment of the army men outside and inside the most sensitive polling stations.

The Election Commission has issued directives for installations of CCTV cameras at all the polling stations, whereas military personnel will be deployed inside and outside 464 the most sensitive polling stations.

The training of the election staffers and deployment has already been completed in the tribal districts. And the polling material has been sealed in sacks, which will be handed over to the presiding officers as per the distribution plan on July 19 in complete security at all the designated polling stations. Moreover, the army personnel will be deployed outside the remaining 1433 polling stations. The Election Commission Secretariat has constituted two teams with regards to complaints and initial results under the additional director general. These teams will continue working from July 20 to July 21.

As many as 297 candidates are in the election arena for 16 provincial assembly seats. The general election in erstwhile the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) was held for the 12 National Assembly (NA) seats with a total of 303 contesting candidates.

Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had to delay the elections on 16 provincial assembly seats for 18 days in the wake of threat of terrorist attacks from across the border.

The polling was originally scheduled for July 2. However, a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Muhammad Raza at the Election Commission Secretariat decided that the polling would now take place on July 20 on the request of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government.

Accordingly, the Election Commission had asked the provincial government to complete all the arrangements for holding elections besides maintaining law and order in the merged districts such that the voting could take place within the timeframe stipulated in the Constitution.