Security forces will work under presiding officers: ECP Secretary

ISLAMABAD:  Amid various speculations about army’s role on the polling day, secretary of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Babar Yaqoob cleared the air saying “Army deployed for elections throughout Pakistan will perform its duty under the supervision of presiding officer.”

He apprised the Senate Standing Committee on Interior on Thursday and censured the erroneous impression that armed forces will work in an independent manner on the election day.

“If someone attempts to fill ballot boxes, then army personnel will first inform Returning Officer or Presiding Officer,” ECP official said.

Troops will only aid in holding peaceful polls, he informed the Senate’s interior committee while citing that nearly 20,000 polling stations have been declared sensitive in a meeting of National Counter Terrorism Authority.

“There are always threats looming over the election day, therefore, providing security to the election candidates, polling staff and voters is highly imperative,” secretary ECP added.

Babar Yaqoob rejected all the negative reports related to the observers of July 25 polls.

The general elections 2018 of Pakistan are due on July 25. The polling day will mark a second transition of a democratic government in Pakistan.

A total of 105.96 million voters out of total population of about 200 million people are included in the electoral roll to cast vote in elections on July 25, 2018. They include: 59.22million male and 46.73million females, with the gender gap between male and female rising to around 12.5m. This shows that 55.9 per cent of the registered voters in Pakistan are males while only 44.1pc are females.