All set for first phase of LG polls in KP

PESHAWAR: All is set for the first phase of local government elections being held in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa amid tight security today (Sunday).

Around 79,479 policemen and personnel of other security forces have been deployed for the security during the LG polls.

The elections for the slot of mayor city council Dera Ismail Khan were postponed after the death of Awami National Party's candidate, Mohammad Umar Khitab, in an attack on Saturday. Security in DIK and other districts was upgraded after the incident.

As per the Election Commission of Pakistan, 2,507 polling stations have been declared most sensitive, 4,188 sensitive while 528 have been categorized as normal.

A total of 9,223 polling stations and 28,892 polling booths have been set up for the polls being held in half of the districts of the province.

The polls will be held in the rest of the KP next month. As many as 860 polling stations have been declared sensitive,165 most sensitive while 224 have been placed in normal category in Peshawar.

Around 11,000 policemen and personnel of other forces have been deployed for security during polls in Peshawar.

An official said apart from police, Frontier Constabulary personnel would be deployed in over 200 most sensitive polling stations in the provincial capital. Deployment to all the polling stations has been completed.

Besides, the Ababeel squad, rapid response force and other forces will also remain alert to rush in case of any mishap in an area. The cops have been directed not to allow brandishing of weapons, aerial firing or creating any law and order.

Inspector General of Police Moazzam Jah Ansari chaired a meeting on the security arrangements for the polls on Saturday and directed the officers to ensure foolproof security.

For the first time, the cops from the erstwhile tribal areas have also been deployed in different districts of the province for election security duty.

This is for the first time that LG polls are being held in districts of erstwhile Fata.

As per the ECP, there are a total of 12.66 million registered voters, 7. 015 male and 5.653 females, in the 17 districts.

As many as 37,752 candidates are in the run for different categories in the first phase of the polls. Among these 689 are in the run to lead the city and tehsil councils while 19,285 candidates are in the run for the slot of general councilors, chairman in village and neighborhood councils.

Besides, 3,905 candidates are flexing their muscles for the seats for women councillors, 7513 for peasant councilors, 6081 for youth councilors and 282 for minority councilors.

As per reports 876 women councilors have already been elected unopposed in different village and neighborhood councils across the province. A large number of minority councilors have been elected unopposed.