Election preparations: 3,500 election staff inaccurately listed

Election workers yet to be trained; those absent from training sessions could be suspended.

LAHORE: As many as 3,500 election staff appear to have been assigned duties with more than one returning officer in the lists sent by the Education Department to the district returning officer.

An election cell official told The Express Tribune that lists of staff for election duty had been sent thrice so far to DRO Nazir Ahmad Gajana. He said every time they had been sent back for correction as hundreds of people had been assigned duties with multiple ROs.

The official said as many as 150 government departments had provided 33,000 workers to help the ROs in the City. He said 14,141 of these were provided by the Education Department.

He said the workers were to be trained in elections rules and procedure but more than 3,000 of them did not attend the training sessions or meet the ROs.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Chaudhry Tariq Javed, the coordinator to DRO, said on Sunday that the departments concerned had been directed to ask supervisors of these workers to meet the ROs at MAO College, Central Model School, Chishtia High School, Government College University, Civil Lines College and three Alhamra Halls.

District Education Officer Tahira Shafique Chishti said some of the lists sent by departments other than the Education Department, also had the same problem. She said strict action would be taken against those responsible for the wrong lists after the election.

Meeting with DCO

Meanwhile, District Coordination Officer Rizwan Mehboob has directed that arrest warrants be issued for absentee staff.

The directive was issued during a meeting on Sunday chaired by the coordinator to DRO at his District Courts office.

Representatives of the Education Department as well as the Election Commission of Pakistan were also present at the meeting.

The DCO said action would be taken against the absentees. He said those who did not show up could be suspended from service.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 29^th, 2013.