Election Commission Of Pakistan Finalizes Arrangements To Hold Erstwhile FATA Seats Polls On July 20

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has finalized all necessary arrangements to hold elections on July 20 on 16 provincial assembly seats of erstwhile Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) districts, which are now part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Jul, 2019 ) :Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has finalized all necessary arrangements to hold elections on July 20 on 16 provincial assembly seats of erstwhile Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) districts, which are now part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Addressing a joint press conference, Additional Directional General Elections Sharif Ullah and Director General Elections Nadeem Qasim on Friday said that three-tier security arrangements had been made to enable the voters to exercise their right of franchise in a secure environment.

ADG ECP Sharif Ullah said that the commission had completed training of election staff and their deployment in these areas.

He said that all relevant polling material had been sealed in election bags which would be handed over to the Presiding Officers as per distribution plan.

This material would be further dispatched to the polling stations with complete security.

He said that total registered voters in these areas are 2,801,834, out of which 1,671,305 voters are male while 1,130,529 are female voters. He added the ECP has appointed eight District Returning Officers, 36 Assistant Returning Offices and 1897 Presiding Officers.

He said that total 282 candidates were contesting elections on 16 provincial assembly seats. He added 28 candidates were contesting elections on seats reserved for women and non-Muslim including 22 on women seats and six on non-Muslim seats.

He said that the commission had set up 1,897 polling stations out of which 482 were male, 376 were female and 1,039 were combined polling stations.

Nadeem Qasim said that Army troops would be deployed outside all 1897 polling stations whereas inside and outside all 554 highly sensitive polling stations.

He said that to encourage female voters to cast their votes more conveniently, female security staff would be deployed at all female polling stations and female booths of all combined polling stations.

He said that the ECP had already directed the provincial government for installation of CCTV cameras at all booths of 1,897 polling stations and in this regard, standard operating procedures (SOPs) had also been issued to all concerned.

He said that a complaint center had been established in ECP secretariat Islamabad as well as in ECP office Peshawar.