Army to be deployed for by-polls

ECP spokesperson says the commission would formally contact the army soon in this regard.

ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan has decided to deploy army personnel inside and outside sensitive polling stations during the by-elections, according to ECP spokesperson Khursheed Ahmad.

“It is a principled decision of the ECP that the army will be deployed at sensitive polling stations during by-elections or re-elections,” he told The Express Tribune.

Khursheed said the commission would formally contact the army soon in this regard. The ECP will subsequently issue the schedule of army deployment at the sensitive stations 15 days before the by-elections, he added.

Meanwhile, the ECP has sought the details of the sensitive polling stations from returning officers. According to the spokesperson, by-elections will be held for 16 National Assembly and 26 provincial assembly seats across the country.

Army deployment on sensitive stations in different parts of the country has become a routine matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2013.