Caretaker Sindh Cheif Minister Chaired Meeting Regarding Election Security

LArKANA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Feb, 2024) LARKANA (Feb 5): Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (r) Maqbool Baqar presiding over a meeting to review the arrangements for the upcoming February 8th election directed the administration to enforce a code of conduct and provide all necessary facilities to ensure free, fair, transparent, and peaceful polling.

He instructed the administration to carry out a mock exercise to ensure the fool proof retrieval of the election material. “This exercise must be carried out in the mock security of the police, Rangers and the army.”

The meeting was held at the Commissioner’s Office. It was attended by Minister Information Ahmad Shah, Chief Secretary Dr Fakhre Alam, IG Police Riffat Mukhtar, Commissioner Waheed Shaikh, DIG Nasir Aftab, Deputy Commissioner Larkana Dr Sharjeel Channa, and other concerned officers.

16,704 policemen, 2,552 army personnel, 133 QRF to be deployed for security of 2738 polling stations.

Commissioner Larkano Waheed Shaikh and DIG Nasir Aftab gave a detailed briefing to the caretaker chief minister.

Larkana division comprises five districts, namely Larkano, Kamber-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Jacobabd, and Sukkur. The division has a total of 3,592,271 registered voters, including 1,930,896 males and 1,661,375 females.

There are eight national and 17 provincial assembly seats in the division. A total of 95 candidates, including four females, are contesting for the national assembly election. Furthermore, there are 236 candidates, including 10 females, who are competing for the 17 provincial assembly seats.

The districts of Larkano and Kambar-Shahdadkot each have two national and four provincial assembly seats. Shikarpur has two national and three provincial assembly seats. Jacobabad and Kashmore each have one national and three provincial assembly seats.

In total, there will be 2738 polling stations in the division, out of which 1306 are normal, 619 are sensitive, 813 are highly sensitive, and 55 are improvised.

In response to a question, the CM was informed that 86 polling stations had been identified by the Election Commission of Pakistan as rain-affected and required repairs. Moreover, an additional 1182 polling stations required missing facilities. The caretaker Chief minister released Rs. 319.289 million for the repair of all 1268 polling stations. The repair work and provision of missing facilities have been completed.

Code of conduct: The CM was told that political parties were allowed to use posters, banners, handbills, pamphlets, et cetera of specified size only.

Fixing posters on walls and buildings has been prohibited. There is a complete ban on hoardings, billboards, wall-chalking and Pana flexes of any size. car rallies have been prohibited and corner meetings are to be notified through the local administration.

To a question, the Chief Minister was told that 162 cases related to the violation of the code of conduct for displaying oversized banners were registered, two were related to organizing public meetings without proper NOCs, and 11 were related to public officials participating in political activities. The authorities took strict action against the offenders, which included issuing warnings in 30 cases, sending show-cause notices in 28 cases, and removing 514 banners that were illegally displayed.

Deployment of Forces: A total of 16,704 policemen will be deployed for the upcoming election. This includes 4,475 officers in Larkano, 3,123 in Kambar-Shahdadkot, 3,360 in Shikarpur, 3,205 in Jacobabad, and 2,541 in Kashmore-Kandhkot. Additionally, an auxiliary force of 3,852 officers will also be deployed.

Furthermore, 2,552 personnel from the Pak Army and 133 personnel from the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) will be deployed in the Larkano division. The Larkano district will have 633 Pak Army personnel and 33 QRF personnel, Kambar-Shahdadkot will have 480 army personnel and 25 QRF, Shikarpur will have 345 Pak Army personnel and 18 QRF, Jacobabd will have 499 Army personnel and 26 QRF, and Kashmore-Kandhkot will have 595 army personnel and 31 QRF.

CCTV: The National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) has installed highly sensitive CCTV cameras at polling stations, and focal persons have been appointed at the district level. The NRTC will operate CCTV and provide external hard disk drives for data retrieval.

Generator and Electricity: On the CM's orders, generators will be installed at Improvised Polling Stations. The education Works department will provide solar panels and solar lights in schools that do not have electricity, and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will provide small emergency lights in election materials. Furthermore, all health facilities will remain open on Election Day until night, and uninterrupted electricity supply should be ensured for February 7th, 8th and 9th, 2024.

Safety Measures: Fire extinguishers will be made available at DRO offices for the safety of sensitive election material. Moreover, proper news dissemination will be ensured on Election Day to prevent disinformation or false propaganda about the election process.