16,766 polling stations declared highly sensitive

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has declared 16,766 polling stations highly sensitive and 29,985 as sensitive in the general elections across the country due to the prevailing security situation in those districts.

“The returning, presiding and assistant officers have been delegated first-class magistrate powers to control the law and order situation at the polling stations, while Pakistan Army will be deployed outside the most sensitive polling stations,” the ECP spokesman told the official news agency.

The spokesman said that the ECP will use Election Management System (EMS) to transmit and edit the results of the general elections, adding that no decision was taken yet to shut down the internet anywhere on election day tomorrow (Thursday).

“As many as 90,675 polling stations and 266,398 polling booths have been established across the country to ensure the right of the people to vote, while 1,490,000 election staffers will perform their duties of polling staff,” he added.

He said the ECP has already fixed the election duties of the officers and employees for the general polls across the country, under which the staffers will perform duties in two shifts round the clock.

A notification in this regard has already been issued in which it conveyed the Terms of Reference (TORs) regarding grievance cell, print, electronic and social media coordination and monitoring, he said.

The spokesman said that the staffers will perform duties in two shifts for 24 hours in a batch of four for each constituency for conducting polls from February 8 to 10.