F.P. Report
PESHAWAR: An important meeting to take stock of the preparations of the provincial government for holding General Elections 2024 was held here on Tuesday with Caretaker Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Justice (R) Syed Arshad Hussain Shah in the chair.
Besides Caretaker Provincial Ministers Dr. Aamir Abdullah and Barrister Feroz Jamal Shah Kakakhel, Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Nadeem Aslam Chaudhary, Inspector General Police Akhtar Hayat Khan Gandapur , Additional Chief Secretary Home Muhammad Abid Majeed and other relevant high ups attended the meeting. Divisional Commissioners and Regional Police Officers also attended the meeting via video link.
Briefing about the preparedness and arrangements made so far, the participants were informed that for the first time, General Eelections for national and provincial assemblies are going to be held simultaneously in the settled and merged districts of the province, adding that the elections would be held for 45 general seats of the National Assembly and 115 general seats of the Provincial Assembly in the province.
It was informed that a total of 15737 polling stations would be established across the province out of which 4812 polling stations have been declared the most sensitive, 6581 sensitive and 4344 polling stations normal adding that 1919 polling stations would be established in the snow-bound areas of the province.
The authorities told that the total number of registered voters in the province is 21692381. Briefing about the security arrangements for holding general elections in the province, it was informed that 11 security personnel would be deployed at each most sensitive polling stations in the southern belt and merged districts of the province, whereas seven security personnel would be deployed at each most sensitive polling stations in the rest of the districts.
Similarly, 7 security personnel would be deployed at each of the sensitive polling stations and 4 security personnel at each of the normal polling stations in the merged and southern districts. Whereas, in the rest of the districts, 5 security personnel at each sensitive and 4 at the each normal polling stations would be deployed. It was further informed that the provincial government would require a total of 115430 security personnel for holding general elections, whereas only 89959 police personnel are currently available; and thus, the government is faced with the shortfall of 25471 security personnel. The Ministry of Interior has been approached for the provision of additional 4 Wings of Frontier Corps and 165 Platoons of Frontier Constabulary as well.
Moreover, it was informed that on the special directives of the caretaker Chief Minister, 26213 additional security personnel have been arranged so far from the different provincial departments. In order to monitor the law and order during the elections, Command and Control Centre has been established at the home department, whereas, district wise contingency plan has been prepared by the police department.
Similarly, Rescue Amergency Plans and Health Amergency Plans have also been prepared for the upcoming general elections. Moreover, the authorities told that a total of 5552 CCTV Cameras are available for installation at polling stations, whereas Rs. 986 million have been released for providing additional 11668 CCTV Cameras for this purpose. Similarly, ramps for differently abled people are available at 11689 polling stations, whereas 1536 more ramps are under construction.
They also informed that the relevant deputy commissioners have chalked out their formal plans for polling in the snow-bound areas of the province; required machinery and manpower would be available for clearance of snow from the roads during the elections.
Similarly, a comprehensive mechanism has been devised for coordination amongst all the stakeholders in order to ensure fair and peaceful holding of general elections. Addressing the participants on the occasion, the chief minister said that the provincial government will go all out for holding general elections in a peaceful, fair and transparent manner. He directed all the Divisional Commissioners, RPOs, Deputy Commissioners and DPOs to ensure implementation of the plans and decisions of the provincial government in letter and spirit for this purpose.
He made it clear that instructions and code of conduct issued by the Election Commission for holding general elections must be implemented at all levels. All the available machinery and resources of the provincial government would be utilised adding that Divisional and District administrations would have to play their respective role in an effective manner for holding free, fair and peaceful general elections in the province; the provincial government will extend its all out support for this purpose, he concluded.
