It was for the first time in the history of the Election Commission of Pakistan that the entire staff, hired from different organisations for election duty, was paid cash in advance. Total amount disbursed was Rs 375 million.
Presiding officers told Business Recorder on Monday that the entire staff had been paid at the per diem rate of Rs 725 to each presiding officer and Rs 650 to each assistant presiding officer and each polling officer.
They said that earlier the payment used to take some days after the elections were over. The Returning Officers responsible for making payment were usually not easily available to the election staff, mostly comprising schoolteachers, and they would make several visits to RO's office.
In particular, the female staff used to face even harder times at the hands of lower staff of Returning Officers. Complaints of harassment from female staff used to be frequent and payments depended on sharing a portion of the allowance. They said that this time the ECP had taken the initiative for advance payment to the entire satisfaction of the election staff.
"As we do not get lunch, tea or water from the government, the advance payment of per diem came to our help." In all, 64,176 presiding officers, 337,604 assistant presiding officers and 170,174 polling officers were detailed all over Pakistan, including FATA, to perform election duties.