Army to supervise July 25 polls: ECP

ISLAMABAD: In a crucial meeting called to devise a security plan for the election day, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday finalized foolproof security arrangements and decided to conduct July 25 elections in the supervision of army.

ECP officials announced that along with army, the assistance of rangers will also be sought during the polls.

Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Muhammad Raza was chairing the meeting. The director general military operations, the defence secretary and the newly appointed chief secretaries and inspectors general of police of all four provinces were also present.

The security of printing press, printing of ballot papers and their delivery to respective polling stations will be carried out under army’s supervision, ECP officials told.

ECP asked chief secretaries of all provinces to submit a final list of all sensitive polling booths and ordered the installation of CCTV cameras at all sensitive stations, in addition to other special security measures.

During the meeting, the proposal of having Quick Response Force came under consideration for which ECP may contact military, according to details.

Deployment of rangers and army personnel inside and outside the polling stations was also discussed.

The complete security arrangements for polling stations, polling staff, monitoring teams, politicians, political rallies and sensitive polling stations have been finalized.