PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Election Commission on Wednesday declared 2507 polling stations “most sensitive” and 4,168 “sensitive” and urged the provincial government for ensuring full fledged security for 19 December Local Government (LG) elections.
The committee, comprising deputy commissioners, District Police Officers (DPOs ) and district election officers has decided criteria for ‘sensitive’ and most ‘sensitive’ and ‘normal’ polling stations.
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The KP Election Commission has completed all the preparations, saying that a total of 9,223 polling stations will be set up in 17 districts. A total 28,892 polling booths will be set up and 689 candidates are vying for tehsil and city mayor slots. In these 17 districts, 1, 26, 68,862 voters will exercise their franchise.
The most sensitive polling stations include 352 stations in Nowshera districts, 278 in Haripur, 241 in Mardan, 208 in Bannu, 208 and 200 in Dera Ismail Khan. The report said that not a single polling station in Charsadda and Khyber has been declared most sensitive while 165 polling stations in the provincial capital, Peshawar, are most sensitive.
According to sources, polling staff have also expressed concern over the security plan of the government and asked for adequate security personnel at the polling stations. Sources said that the polling staff have also urged the government to deploy Pakistan Army on all polling stations. But the KP government has said that 77,000 police personnel will perform duty on the Election Day and army will be called only in emergency. In addition, 10,000 quick response forces of Frontier Corps and Army will be present on the backup.
In terms of security, 9,000 polling stations have been divided into three different categories. A total of 9 personnel will be deployed on polling stations in category A, five on each station in Category B and three on in stations in Category C. The police have urged the election candidate not to visit polling stations on the Election Day but if the visit is must, they should give prior notice to the police.
According to sources, Secretary Election commission has directed the Inspector General of police and Frontier Corps to look into the matter and ensure full proof security.