All eyes on cantonments

Over 0.6m registered voters in Rawalpindi Division.

RAWALPINDI:

Ten cantonments of the Rawalpindi Division will be undergoing elections for their respective cantt boards on Saturday (today).

All the arrangements have been finalised for the elections in Rawalpindi, Chaklala, Murree, Wah Cantt, Attock, Kamra, Sanjwal, Jhelum, Mangla and Taxila. There are over 608,195 registered voters in all ten cantt boards.

All of Rawalpindi’s five cantonment boards — Rawalpindi, Chaklala, Murree, Wah Cantt and Taxila — have been divided into 785 statistical blocks and 34 wards wherein more than the 5,000 government employees will perform duties at the polls.

A public holiday has been declared in the division and there would be complete ban on aerial firing, rallies and display of any kind of weapons in and around 100 meters of the polling stations.

The government has deployed 3,200 police personnel across the division to ensure security of all polling stations at all times. Besides, army personnel would also be asked to stay alert in case of any disturbance.

As many as 211 polling stations will be set up for 10 wards of the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) in which two polling booths would be combined for both male and female voters. According to the issued polling scheme, more than 258,000 voters would exercise their right to vote in the elections in RCB.

As many as 2,000 government employees would perform their duties as polling staff in all the polling stations of RCB.

A statement revealed by RCB on Thursday said around 30 polling stations will be set up in ward one to facilitate 17,538 male and 14,546 female voters. Whereas, 24 polling stations will be set up in ward two for 16,983 male and 14,161 female voters.

As many as 11 polling stations for 16,458 male and nine for 14,371 female will be set up at ward three, while 22 polling stations in ward four will facilitate 15,707 male and 13,049 female voters.

A total of 24 polling stations will be set up for 17,030 male and 15,307 female voters in ward five. As many as 16 polling stations will be allocated for 11,392 male voters and 10,207 female voters in ward six.

Nine polling stations will be set up for 15,052 male voters and seven stations for 12,253 female in ward seven. Similarly, there will be 16 polling stations for 14,637 male and 12,971 female voters in ward eight.

Around 12 polling stations are being set up for 14,015 male and 11 for 12,608 female voters in ward nine besides, 22 polling stations that will be set up for 13,137 male and 10,845 female voters in ward 10.

There are a total of 101 polling stations in Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) for 126,676 voters where 76 candidates will contest the elections. A total of 68,036 male voters and 64,503 female voters have been registered.

Around 68 polling stations in RCB and 47 in CCB have been declared sensitive.

As many as 13,521 voters would cast the ballot at 10 polling stations in the two wards in Taxila, while 689 voters would cast their votes at the two polling stations to choose one candidate out of three.

Similarly in Wah Cantonment, 313 polling stations have been set up for around 170,511 voters at 10 wards.

There are two wards in Murree cantonment. In ward two, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidate has already won after the only candidate against him, from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz backed out. In ward one, a total of 672 voters are registered.

There are 22 candidates in the run for six general member seats in the three cantonments of Attock district — Attock, Sanjwal and Kamra — with total registered voters of 34,303.

Similarly, there are 3,262 voters in Jhelum cantonment with women outnumbering their male counterparts --- 1,750 to 1,515. Around 712 male voters and 660 female voters are registered in ward one, whereas 803 male voters and 1,090 female voters are registered in ward two.

Another 1,233 voters are registered at two polling stations in Mangla cantonment in Jhelum District.

A deeper look

Cantt boards	Total wards	Total poll stations	Total voters	Female voters	Male voters
Rawalpindi	10	211	258,000	14,546	17,538
Chaklala	NA	101	126,676	64,503	68,036
Taxila	02	12	14,210	NA	NA
Wah	10	313	170,511	NA	NA
Murree	01	NA	672	NA	NA
Jhelum	02	16	3,262	1,750	1,515
Mangla	01	02	1,233	570	663
Attock	02	NA	9,179	4,509	4,670
Kamra	02	NA	20,170	9,505	10,665
Sanjwal	02	NA	4,954	1,391	2,563

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2015.