A file photo of an army personnel. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has agreed to deploy army personnel at every polling station in Karachi, Express News reported on Thursday.
The decision was taken during a meeting with the representatives of various political parties.
Under the agreement, at least one soldier will be present at each polling station until the results are announced.
Emphasising that the elections will be held on time, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim assured the representatives that all concerns regarding elections in Karachi will be addressed.
He added that the commission will consider the recommendations put forward by the political parties.
Jamaat-i-Islami’s (JI) Liaquat Baloch expressed dissatisfaction over the ongoing verification process of Karachi’s voters list.
He said the army was not utilised in the process as ordered by the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice seeks report from ECP Sindh
The Supreme Court on Thursday sought a comprehensive report from the ECP Sindh over the implementation of its verdict for delimitation of electoral constituencies and door-to-door verification of voter lists with the support of the Pakistan Army and the Frontier Constabulary (FC).
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry resumed the hearing of identical petitions on electoral reforms.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan’s counsel Hamid Khan alleged that the voter verification process in Karachi had not yet commenced in accordance with the court’s directions. Upon hearing this, the chief justice directed the ECP Sindh to submit an affidavit containing numbers of Army and FC personell deputed to implement the court’s orders.
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@iqbm: Please listen to the things carefully. Army is being deployed just to maintain law and order situation. they will stay outside polling stations.
Just like voter checks Army was there in Karachi. Six decades are more than enough to be duped.
This deployment is very important for the coming elections otherwise we know that " NaMaloom Log" will steal the whole election and public mandate of Karachi
It doesn't matter MQM will still win as they won 1993 elections...
ECP agrees? they shhould be held accountable for not complying with SC orders in first place. fakhru bhai is been a disappointment so far!
Deploy army at EVERY polling station in Pakistan. There are rural areas where rigging takes place as a regular business. It will atleast ensure security of people and will counter rigging.
@well wisher:
Totally agree with your comments.
Good step! A much bigger problem however is rural polling. 90% of rigging takes place in villages on the basis of baradari, wadera, sardar, makhdoom, pir, etc.
If one cannot vote out of free will then it's sham democracy, no two ways about it. The ruling party in Punjab thrives on baradari based politics where it gives money to waderas and patwaris to make sure the exit polls are in their favor.