Poll items dispatched to Sindh districts for Feb 8 polls: provincial election commissioner

Provincial Election Commissioner (PEC) Sindh Sharifullah has said the necessary poll-related items have been dispatched to all the districts in the province for smooth conduct of the general elections on February 8.

Speaking to media persons at a press briefing on Monday, the PEC Sindh said the process had begun to deploy the election staff at 19,008 polling stations in the province for the February 8 polls. He added that polling in Sindh would be held to choose candidates for 61 National Assembly and 130 Sindh Assembly seats.

The ballot papers had been printed and they would be handed over to polling officials on February 7, he said.

He informed media persons that necessary election material would reach the polling stations on February 7 and the polling would begin on February 8 at 8am as per the schedule.

He said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had been in touch with the Sindh government to maintain security for the general elections. He told journalists that closed-circuit television cameras had been installed in all the sensitive polling stations.

He said the ECP had been in touch with the director general of the Sindh Rangers and all other relevant agencies.

The PEC said that over 20 million people would exercise their right to vote in Sindh in the upcoming general elections and the Rangers would be deployed outside the polling stations. Sharifullah said that special training had been given to the security personnel for maintaining security on the elections day.

He assured the journalists that prompt action would be taken by the security agencies to control the situation wherever law and order was disturbed during the polls.

He claimed that the ECP had so far not received any poll-related complaints in Sindh.

To a question, the PEC said the government would decide whether there was any requirement to suspend the Internet service due to the law and order situation on the elections day. Joint Provincial Election Commissioner Sindh Nazar Abbas informed journalists that there were 6,524 highly sensitive polling stations from the security point of view. He said that troops from the army, Rangers and police would be deployed to maintain security at such polling stations.

He said the presiding officers would be allowed to leave the polling stations only after completion of the poll result.

He said the polling agent of any candidate should promptly complain if he did not get the Form-45 containing the results.

He said the polling officials were bound to give results by 2am after the election as otherwise they should inform the ECP about the reasons behind the delay in compiling the election outcome.