Pak to deploy 7.6 lakh security personnel, 1.6 mn electoral officials for General Election

Islamabad, July 20

Pakistan will deploy 1.6 million electoral officials and nearly 7.5 lakh security personnel, including soldiers for the July 25 General Election, the country’s poll body announced on Friday.

Releasing the details on the number of polling staff and security personnel who will be working on the day of the election, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said there will two members of the Pakistan Army posted inside the polling station while two will be posted outside.

The election is being held amidst a series of terror attacks across the country in which over 150 people, including two politicians, were killed in the restive provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan last Friday.

The ECP said that 1.6 million electoral staff will be working on July 25.

There will be 449,465 policemen deployed on the day of the election out of which 202,100 will be posted in Punjab and Islamabad while 100,500 policemen will be stationed in Sindh.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 87,269 policemen will be on duty, the Express Tribune reported.

There will be 300,071 army personnel deployed across the country.

According to the electoral rolls published by the ECP, 105.96 million voters will be able to cast their vote in the upcoming elections.

Of these, 59.22 million are male and 46.73 million are females, Dawn newspaper reported.

According to the figures, 55.9 per cent of the registered voters in Pakistan are males while 44.1 per cent are females.

The numbers are approximately 23 per cent higher than the figures for the 2013 elections when the total number of voters stood at 86.19 million, the report said.

On the polling day, there will be 85,307 presiding officers on duty — one at every polling station — with 510,356 assistant presiding officers and 255,178 polling officers.

In Punjab and Islamabad, there will be 48,610 presiding officers with 281,062 assistant presiding officers and 140,534 polling officers on duty.

In Sindh, there will be 17,747 presiding officers while there will be 122,204 assistant presiding officers and 61,102 polling officers on duty.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas will have 14,530 presiding officers, while there will be 83,692 assistant presiding officers and 41,846 polling officers.

Balochistan will have 4,420 presiding officers on duty who will be assisted by 23,398 assistant presiding officers and 11,699 polling officers. PTI