4,945 polling stations went without basic facilities

Many complained that casting of a vote took more than ten minutes

ISLAMABAD: There were numerous polling stations across the country that lacked the necessary facilities despite tall claims of the Elections Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the caretaker federal and provincial governments.

According to statistics of the ECP available with The Express Tribune, there were a total of 4,945 polling stations in the country where the absence of basic facilities was reported. The polling stations were amongst those which were supposed to provide basic facilities like washrooms, potable water, ceiling fans and other arrangements.

The majority of the polling stations, which lacked the basic facilities, were situated in Sindh. A total of 3,688 polling stations in Sindh lacked the basic facilities while 576 polling stations in Balochistan were deprived of the basic requirements.  In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), 507 polling stations in Punjab were missing the basic facilities while four polling stations in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) faced a similar situation.

There were a total of 85,307 polling stations throughout the country, out of which 47,813 polling stations were situated in Punjab, 17,747 in Sindh and 12,634 in K-P and others.

With regards to the polling stations in Rawalpindi, the basic facilities were not available to the voters and polling staff.

Pirzada Muhmmad Usman, presiding officer at a polling station in NA-62 constituency – the Government Degree College for Women in Satellite Town Rawalpindi – said his polling station lacked bathrooms facility.

He added that the polling staff comprising 40 persons did not have this basic facility as the principal of the college had locked the bathrooms.  “What should we do if we want to use washroom. We have to go very far away if one needs it,” he said.

Presiding Officer Shazia Akhtar of the polling station situated in Poultry Research Institute Rawalpindi complained that she had no choice but to work in a room with no ceiling fan in the harsh humid environment. Another Presiding Officer Aisha Malik who was also deputed in the same building for a different block said that before the start of polling she faced a lot of hardship to get rooms for performing her duties.

Meanwhile, the elderly voters complained that no care was being taken of them and they had no choice other than to stand in long queues.

An elderly female voter Kausar Parveen said that she had heard that the elderly persons having health issues would be given preference in vote casting. However, according to her, it took many hours and she could not get a chance to cast her vote.

The voters in NA-62 especially women complained that the polling staff was taking too much time to let them cast a single vote. There were long queues of voters at almost every polling station in NA-62 where Awami Muslim League’s (AML) Sheikh Rashid, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Barrister Daniyal Chaudhry are pitted against each other.

There were several polling stations in NA-62 in which security staff did not allow the media persons to carry their cellular phones inside. At the same time, there were polling stations where poll observers were allowed to carry their cellular phones and even allowed to make footage.

Moreover, there were many places in which casting a vote was taking seven to 10 minutes due to mismanagement and lack of capacity of the polling staff. There were some polling stations in NA-62 where the police was denying media access to the polling stations.  Later on, it was learnt that they were not given proper training for deputing them at the polling stations and they had no idea what sort of identification the observers would be wearing.