Caretaker Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa former justice Tariq Pervez on Friday reiterated his resolve to hold the upcoming general elections in a free, fair and transparent manner in a peaceful atmosphere. He expressed this resolve while presiding over a meeting to review the overall law and order situation and the preparations for the upcoming general election in the province and Fata at Chief Minister's Secretariat Peshawar.
The chief minister stressed the need of peaceful environment for the holding of fair and transparent election and directed the relevant quarters to take all necessary measure in time to maintain law and order and implement the code of conduct issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan for election campaign according to its letter and spirit.
Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ghulam Dastagir Akhta, Inspector General Police Akbar Khan Hoti, Additional Chief Secretary Fata Dr Tashfeen Khan, Secretary Home and Tribal Affairs Azam Khan, Secretary Local Government Aurangzeb, Provincial Election Commissioner Sonoo Khan, Commandant Frontier Constabulary Abdul Majeed Marwat, Commissioner Peshawar Tariq Jamil and other concerned authorities attended the meeting.
Briefing the participants of the meeting about preparations for the upcoming general election, Secretary Local Government and Provincial Election Commission said there were a total of 35 general seats of National Assembly and 99 seats of Provincial Assembly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while in Fata there were 12 seats of National Assembly. The meeting was informed that a total of 12,001 polling stations and 34,220 polling booths would be established across the province and tribal areas to facilitate 13.74 million registered voters to cast their votes.
Regarding the appointment of polling staff, the meeting was told that 32 District Returning Officers, 145 Returning Officers, 164 Assistant Returning Officers, 12,001 Presiding Officers, 64,425 Assistant Presiding Officers and 34,220 Polling Officers would be appointed in the province and tribal areas.
The meeting was also briefed regarding the codes of conduct issued by ECP for political parties, contesting candidates, polling staff, security personnel and observes. It was informed that regarding the election campaign the ECP has prescribed size of posters, hoardings and banners etc.
On this occasion, the installation of oversize posters, hoardings and banners in Peshawar city was pointed out and the chair directed Commissioner Peshawar to take action against the same. The chief minister stressed the need for ensuring transparency in the constitution of monitoring teams and to be economical in the expenditures incurring on the movement of the monitoring teams.
Additional Chief Secretary Fata, while briefing the meeting about the preparations of elections in Fata, informed the participants about the difficulties in making arrangements for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) to cast their vote in the elections.
The meeting was informed that the provincial government was supposed to provide funds amounting to Rs 429 million for the expenditures incurring on general election in the province. The chair directed the concerned quarters to curtail the necessary expenses and to make economical use of the funds to minimise the loss of national exchequer.
The meeting also reviewed the overall law and order situation of the province. Inspector General Police and Secretary Home briefed the meeting about the law and order situation and the preparations of the law enforcing agencies to avoid any untoward situation during the elections. The meeting was informed that about 50,000 police personnel would be deployed at polling station across the province.