Balochistan LB polls: Army on standby for election

Army would be deployed in sensitive areas to maintain peace and order in and around polling stations.

QUETTA: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided to take extra security measures by putting the army on standby during local bodies’ elections in Balochistan on December 7. Official sources in the Provincial Election Commission said that it was decided by the high-ups of the ECP that the army would be deployed in sensitive areas to assist personnel of Frontier Corps, Police, Balochistan Constabulary and Levies Force to maintain peace and order in and around the polling stations during the LB elections. They said that over 22,000 candidates had filed their nomination forms for 7,189 seats. Some 2,332 have been declared elected-unopposed as no other candidates submitted their nomination papers against them.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2013.