Army units deployed to supervise printing of ballots

Army units to be deployed in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi from Saturday night.

Army contingents are due to be deployed in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi from Saturday evening as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) starts printing 180 million ballot papers, Radio Pakistan reported.

According to the Election Commission‚ the printing of ballot papers will be completed by Wednesday, April 24, 2013. This process would be carried out under the army's supervision.

According to an Inter-services Public Relations (ISPR) release‚ army contingents will be deployed for this purpose in Islamabad‚ Karachi and Lahore on Saturday night.

The commission has embedded 11 security features in the ballot papers of two types to prevent any fraudulent activity during voting. The green ballot papers will be printed for National Assembly candidatures contesting for general seats whereas white ballot papers would be for provincial assemblies.

120 million ballot papers would be printed by the Printing Corporation of Pakistan while the Pakistan Security Printing Corporation will print 60 million ballot papers.