In a bid to hold free, fair and transparent general elections 2013 and to tackle all exigencies linked with security matters, the army has been deputed all over the country to provide back up to other law enforcement agencies (LEAs) deployed to protect highly sensitive polling satiations, whereas powers of First Class Magistrate were given to presiding officers.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) despite dissatisfaction on the security plan designed to tackle security threats has finalised all necessary arrangements - First Class Magistrate power was given to 69,729 presiding officers under the Code of Criminal Procedure, law enforcement agencies personnel were deployed at highly sensitive polling stations along with around 70,000 troops, as quick response force across the country. The Commission had also instructed the officers to take charge of their polling stations from today for staying overnight at the venue. Printing of ballot papers for upcoming elections on May 11 was completed and dispatched to all polling stations across the country.
The military has made essential changes in its security plans prepared for keeping law and order under control in the general elections after the dissatisfaction shown by the Chief Election Commissioner Fakhrudin G Ebrahim. The CEC had written a letter to the Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, urging him to deploy military personal on each sensitive polling station who would perform their duties outside the polling stations.
Pakistan's top military command, on the request of ECP, has deployed army personnel at most sensitive polling stations across the country, besides establishment of quick response forces in the morning (May 11). The decision to deploy army at most sensitive polling stations has been made on the advice of the civil administration concerned, intelligence agencies and other security organisations.
Though the caretaker government has taken several initiatives to hold the elections in calm environment - sealing of International borders on May 11 and restriction on Afghan refugees to limit their movements during elections days, uncertainty still shrouds the nation whether the government's security plan would be successful or not. According to media reports around 300 terrorists entered the country and they have plan to target polling stations in 17 cities.
Meanwhile, voters would not be allowed to carry their mobile phones inside the polling booth across the country. The ECP, while giving special direction to the presiding officers, said that the officers would exercise the power of First Class Magistrate against the ECP's code of conduct violators found involved in -- display of arms, transportation for voters and establishment of election camps near polling stations. The ECP had given the powers to the presiding officers appointed at each polling station of national and provincial assemblies' constituencies from May 10 to 12.
They would take action against any election related offence in a summary way in accordance with the provisions of the said code. Today 80.6 million registered voters would cast their votes at 69,729 polling stations across the country and according to the ECP's announcement the polling time on the Election Day would be from 08:00 am to 05:00 pm.
Comments
Comments are closed.