ECP’s polling scheme ready

Training of over 400,000 polling staff will be completed this month

ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) took another step towards the February 8 general elections as it issued a provisional list of polling stations across the country, and invited objections, if any, from the public.

In a statement, the ECP spokesperson stated that the preliminary lists had been released by the returning officers and the voters or candidates of constituency concerned could submit their objection to their respective district returning officers till January 11.

According to the spokesperson the DROs would decide on the objections from January 12 to 17, adding that the final list of polling stations will be displayed 15 days before the general elections. Earlier, the ECP said that the training of the polling staff for the voting on Feb 8 was under way.

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So far, the training of more than 579,000 staff had been complete, while the remaining over 406,000 polling staff would complete their training before February 1. The ECP will deply 985,413 staff for duty on the election day. Their training started in November last year.

The first batch to be trained comprised district returning officers (DROs), returning officers (ROs), presiding officers (POs), assistant presiding officers (APOs), and other election staff. Besides, the ECP had made its central control room fully functional on December 26 to receive any complaints regarding the election process.

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By Friday, the ECP said, it received 45 which were resolved, while 165 complaints were received by its central complaint cell, which had also been resolved. Earlier, this week, the ECP invited applications for postal ballots, from persons in government service, members of armed forces, and their children stationed at a place other than their constituency.

The ECP fixed January 22 as the last date for the receipt of these applications. “This facility, under the law, was had been extended to “persons with any physical disability who are unable to travel and hold a national identity card with a logo for physical disability issued by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA)”.

Persons detained in prison or in custody are also entitled to postal ballot, according to an ECP statement. It added that applications for postal ballot should be made on the prescribed form with the Returning Officer concerned of the constituency.