Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Babar Yaqoob Tuesday appealed the nation to come out on the polling day (July 25 - Wednesday) and exercise their legitimate right to vote for strengthening the democracy.
Talking to media persons outside the ECP building he said, "All the doubts about not holding of the elections on time will come to an end tomorrow and the people of the country will celebrate the flourishing and strengthening of democracy."
He expressed the hope that turn-out of the general election-2018 will be much higher as compared to the last elections. He said that to conduct one of the biggest logistics exercises, the services of Pakistan Army, police and civil departments have been acquired by the ECP.
He said as many as 3,428 candidates including 1623 independent are contesting for the 270 National Assembly seats. He said that 8,245 candidates including 4,389 independent are fighting for 570 provincial assemblies' seats.
The Secretary said that out 120 political parties, 95 parties are participating in the elections. He said only 88 political parties have allocated five percent quota for women on general seats while 7 parties have failed to follow the code. He said that 172 women are contesting election on reserved seats for national assembly while 386 female are vying for provincial reserved seats.
The Secretary said that 44 non-Muslim candidates are contesting for National Assembly seats while 113 candidates are in the run to become the member of provincial assemblies.
He said that election at nine constituencies have been deferred due to death and disqualification of candidates. Babar said that overall security situation in the country is better. However, he said there are some threats to polling stations and polling staff.
The Secretary ECP said 80 percent election material had been dispatched to polling stations while rest of the material will reach well before the start of polling. The Secretary said that result management system (RMS) would be functional from July 25 and that results would be shared through official media. He said that Close-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras had been installed in all four provinces to ensure safety of the voters.
He said that in last three days as many as 15 million citizens have used ECP's short messaging service (SMS) 8300, adding that this service has been functioning successfully. He said polling time had been increased for one hour to facilitate the people. Polling will be held from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Comments
Comments are closed.