First-ever Election In Erstwhile FATA Districts Held In Peaceful Manner

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Jul, 2019 ) :The first-ever election for 16 Provincial Assembly (PA) seats of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was held in a free, fair and peaceful manner in merged seven districts of erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on Saturday.

The polling process, which started at 8.00am, continued till 5.00 pm without any break. The voters, who were present within the premises of polling stations at concluding time, were allowed to cast their vote.

Soon after the conclusion of polling, the ECP staff at the polling stations started counting of votes.

Tight security measures were taken to ensure holding of the polling in a peaceful and transparent manner.

Besides local police, Pak Army were deployed in and outside the polling stations to help the administration in maintaining a peaceful atmosphere.

According to an official of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), total registered voters in the merged tribal areas were 2,801,834, out of which 1,671,305 were�male and 1,130,529 were female.

The ECP�had appointed eight District Returning Officers, 36 Assistant Returning Offices and 1897 Presiding Officers.

He said three-tier security arrangements were made to enable the voters to exercise their right of franchise in a secure environment.

He said total 282 candidates were contesting election. He added that 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 the commission had set up 1,897 polling stations out of which 482 were of male, 376 were of female and 1,039 were combined ones.

The official said army troops were deployed outside�all�1897 polling stations, including 554 highly sensitive ones where they also performed duty inside.

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

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

He said a complaint center had been established at the ECP�Secretariat�Islamabad as well as at the ECP office�Peshawar.

He added the ECP had printed 2,891,000 ballot papers for 2,801,834 voters.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (R) Sardar Muhammad Raza and Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Babar Yaqoob visited Election Monitoring Cell established at the ECP Headquarters.

During the visit, they were briefed by the ECP staff about the role and responsibilities of Election Monitoring Cell on completion of election process in tribal districts. They expressed satisfaction over the working of Monitoring Cell.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (R) Sardar Muhammad Raza congratulated the people of tribal areas for their active participation and holding of peaceful elections on 16 seats of provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) districts.

The CEC, in a message, said with conclusion of election process in a peaceful manner, the tribal areas people had told the world that they were peace-loving people, who believed in democracy.

He thanked the polling staff, security personnel, government officials and media persons on playing their roles in peaceful holding of elections.

Meanwhile, talking to media persons outside the ECP headquarters here, Director Elections, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Chaudhry Nadeem Qasim said elections were held in a free, fair and peaceful manner on Saturday on all 16 seats of provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) districts.

He said not a single incident of severe nature happened in any tribal district during the polling process as only four complaints of minor nature were received by the ECP during the whole day.

He thanked all the departments concerned, people of tribal areas and the media for their support in holding elections in a peaceful way.

He said the central control room, which was established at the ECP headquarters, remained busy whole day to monitor the election process.

He said soon after completion of polling, the process of counting was started, adding legally the results were disseminated through electronic method.

Ch Nadeem Qasim said one polling agent of every candidate would be present at polling station at time of counting while their signatures would be received on Form 45.

He said the results would be compiled on completing the counting process and reaching the Form 45 to the Returning Officers. He added the Returning Officer would not announce the result of the constituency till receiving of 100 percent results.

He said the ECP had paid special focus on training of Presiding Officers on Form 45 during their training sessions.