Nation keyed up for all-important elections

ISLAMABAD: More than 128 million voters are set to elect their representatives for the national and provincial assemblies on Thursday (today) for the next five years in what appears to be one of the most unpredictable general elections in Pakistan’s political history, ARY News reported.

The traditional contest will once again be among the three major parties — Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). However, the Imran Khan-led party will be contesting without its iconic symbol bat after Supreme Court declared its intra-party elections “unconstitutional”.

The decision means PTI candidates will contest the elections ‘independently’.

Some of these religious groups have fielded more candidates than the number of contestants of other parties. A number of candidates are contesting from the platforms of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and Jamat-e-Islami (JI). The TLP has fielded even more candidates than other political parties in the race for provincial assemblies.

ECP’s arrangements

Extensive arrangements have been put in place by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in coordination with various supporting departments, including law enforcement agencies (LEAs).

Approximately 18,000 candidates across the country are in the electoral arena to woo the registered voters (128,587,760) for about 855 general seats of National and Provincial Assemblies.

The ECP has announced a public holiday on February 8, in order to provide the voters an opportunity to exercise of right of franchise smoothly and conveniently.

The Commission has already issued a Code of Conduct for the voters as well for media-persons for election day. The polling agents have been advised to display authorization cards.

The ECP said that there would be a complete ban on any campaign within the radius of 400 meters of a polling station and added that no candidate, polling agent or their supporters would interfere or hinder the official functioning.

The ECP has categorised over 17,500 as highly sensitive, 32,508 as sensitive and 42,500 as normal, out of a total of 92,500 polling stations nationwide.

The ECP has completed the training of approximately 1.49 million election staff to ensure the smooth execution of the electoral process.

The Commission has established an Election City in its premises, equipped with the latest technology to swiftly disseminate election results of 855 constituencies to the media.

A comprehensive strategy has been worked out to receive election results via WhatsApp, email, and fax. The ECP has also set up an alternative website to ensure uninterrupted dissemination of results in case of any disruptions.

The Election Management System (EMS) will operate even if internet connectivity were not available. Satellite communication arrangements have also been made in some areas facing connectivity issues.

Under the EMS, the photo of the Form 45 prepared by the Presiding Officer containing the result of the respective polling station will be swiftly transmitted to the respective Returning Officer for compiling of the results of the constituency on Form-47, which will be forwarded to the ECP and also shared with the media.

In case of connectivity issues, the results will be compiled through off-line modules.

Security for elections

The government has deployed over 648,000 security personnel nationwide to ensure the safety of voters, as well as, conduct of fair and transparent polling process.

The government has completed all arrangements for holding safe, fair, and transparent elections.

Out of 648,000 security personnel deployed, 137,000 are from army and paramilitary force, while 511,000 policemen will perform duties during the election.
An average of seven to eight security personnel will man each of the 90,777 polling stations across the country.

In the first tier, the police will perform the duty, along with the civil armed forces in the second tier and the armed forces in the third tier.

A special aerial Quick Reaction Force (QRF) has also been established to promptly deal with any untoward incident, especially in the Balochistan province.

CCTV cameras and other modern gadgets have been installed to ensure peace and security on the polling day.

The Ministry of Interior has set up a national crisis information management system that will monitor the electoral process round the clock.

“Some 111 political parties have nominated 280 women candidates to contest the elections on general seats, making up 4.6 percent of the total of 6,037 candidates they have fielded,” the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) said in a statement.

According to Section 206 of the Elections Act, 2017 (Selection for Elective Offices), each political party is required to ensure at least five percent representation of women candidates while selecting candidates for general seats for elective offices, including membership of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) and Provincial Assemblies, through a transparent and democratic procedure.