Representational image. PHOTO: FILE
This was disclosed in a high-level meeting recently chaired by the Punjab Caretaker Chief Minister Dr Hasan Askari at the Rawalpindi’s Commissioner Office.
During the meeting, election arrangements in the district were reviewed with the authorities directed to ensure the best possible security arrangements for the polling day.
Moreover, electioneering would cease at midnight falling between Monday and Tuesday. The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has activated the Result Transmission Service (RTS) to enable returning officers to send results to the ECP through the service.
35,000-strong force to ensure security
NADRA teams visited the offices of returning officers to activate RTS and according to the ECP, the presiding and assistant presiding officers have been given the software to use through smartphones.
Presiding officers who do not have smartphones will have the software linked to the smartphones of their respective subordinate staff which will be used to pass onwards the results of respective constituency after compilation.
The Rawalpindi commissioner disclosed that in Rawalpindi, 6,132 police officers will be deployed, while as many as 2,754 police officers will be deployed in Attock, 1,841 in Jhelum and 2,141 in Chakwal.
For the seven national assembly and 15 provincial assembly seats of the Punjab assembly falling in Rawalpindi, the Election Commission has set up 2,576 polling stations with 6,200 polling booths for 3.125 million voters.
Of these, 1.65 million are men and 1.48 million are women. Of the polling booths, 3,200 are for men and 3,000 are for women.
City Police Officer (CPO) Abbas Ahsan said that they had divided polling stations in Rawalpindi in four categories including A, B and C for security purposes. As part of security arrangements, the CPO said that the district had been divided into sectors and sub-sectors.
In this regard, 606 polling stations set up in the division have been declared as highly sensitive while 1,036 as sensitive.
Of the highly-sensitive, 145 are in Rawalpindi, 301 in Attock, 74 in Chakwal and 60 in Jhelum.
In the sensitive category, 99 are in Rawalpindi, 532 in Attock, 217 in Chakwal and 11 in Jhelum.
There are 2,332 polling stations classified as normal in Pindi, 634 in Chakwal, 597 in Jhelum and 236 in Attock.
According to ECP officials, NA-59 Rawalpindi-III is the most sensitive constituency in the Rawalpindi district where there are 31 highly-sensitive and seven sensitive polling stations.
Ahsan said that they were taking all possible measures to maintain law and order during the election campaigns and for the polling day.
The CPO assured that a ban on the display of weapons will be implemented in letter and spirit and no one would be allowed to violate the ban.
Each police station in the district will look after one sector while a contingent of reserve police personnel will be at the disposal of the police station and will act accordingly as and when required basis by the relevant police station.
Meanwhile, polling stations have been divided into sub-sectors of 20 police stations, with each sub-sector assigned two police personnel on a motorbike and a patrol van with six police personnel.
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He said the authorities concerned have been requested for deployment of 1,200 extra police personnel to assist the local police.
ICT plan
The security plan for the polling stations falling under the administrative control of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration has also been finalised.
Out of 786 polling stations of the federal capital, 26 have been declared highly sensitive, 87 as sensitive and 673 as normal.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 23rd, 2018.
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