Polling staff demand army deployment

Say security insufficient at most sensitive polling stations

ISLAMABAD:

Polling staff has voiced its serious concern over the security arrangements of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government for the local bodies’ elections scheduled for December 19 and demanded the deployment of Pakistan army to ensure maximum security during the polling. Sources told The Express Tribune that the polling staff has complained to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that the provincial government has failed to deploy sufficient number of policemen for the security in the polling stations and army should be deployed for this purpose in order to ensure maximum security.

They expressed their fears during the training process with ECP. It is worth mentioning here that 35 people were killed in the 2015 local bodies’ elections in K-P and this time too only five policemen have been deployed at most sensitive polling stations which is not enough. “Secretar y Election Commission has directed the IGP and Frontier Constabulary (FC) to increase the numbers of policemen and FC men deployed at polling stations,” said the official, adding that if needed army could also be called to provide security and police could also call more contingents from the nearby districts.

It is worth mentioning here that there are 2,382 village and neighbourhood councils in the 17 districts of the province where polling will be held.