ECP finalises arrangements for Lahore by-election on 5th

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said Friday that Police and Pakistan Rangers personnel will remain on duty to provide security to presiding officers and accompany the polling staff till the completion of polling in the NA-133 constituency by-election, fixed for December 5.

The Election Commission has made all arrangements to conduct this election process in a clean, transparent, peaceful and lawful manner. The presiding officer will receive the polling bag from the returning officer. Security arrangements have been made at all 254 polling stations in the constituency. Police and Pakistan Rangers will be on duty to ensure law and order. According to the Election Commission, presiding officers have been instructed to keep their location on mobile while taking Form 45 photos on polling day. They will also take Form 45 photo in front of the polling agents and immediately inform the returning officer on WhatsApp and will send in the presence of polling agents. In case of internet access issue, the presiding officer will immediately reach the returning officer's office and hand over the original copy of Form 45 to the returning officer.

The returning officer will review the photo and location details and will get the photo of the location and time details on the presiding officer's mobile in his mobile and save these forensic details in the computer in his office. The Election Commission has directed that every candidate should ensure the training of his polling agents and inform that no polling agent should leave the polling station without receiving Form 45 signed by the presiding officer. Each presiding officer will be required to provide a signed copy of Form 45 to the concerned polling agents at the polling station itself.

In view of the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus, the SOPs will have to be followed during the voting process. However, instructions have been issued in this regard that during the implementation of SOPs, there should not be any difficulty in the voting process and any eligible voter should exercise his right to vote: "Don't miss out. If a voter does not have a mask, the ECP staff and the district administration will provide the mask."

A special control room has been set up in the office of the returning officer which will function from the commencement of the polling process till the preliminary results are compiled so that timely steps can be taken to deal with any unusual situation. In addition, the Election Commission has set up separate control rooms at the central and provincial levels for dealing with any kind of grievance on the election day, whose numbers and email addresses are:

Central Control Room Islamabad Phone No. 051-9204402-3

Fax No. 9204404 051-

Email address ddmonitoringisb@gmail.com

Provincial Control Room Punjab 1. Phone No. 042-99212209 --- 042-99212620

Lahore Fax No. 042-99211020

Email address pecpunjabcontrolroom@gmail.com