ECP hands over election materials to staff for by-election

PESHAWAR, Oct 15 (DNA): The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on
Saturday handed over election materials to relevant staff and finalized
arrangements for the by-election scheduled on October 16 (Sunday) on
three vacant National Assembly seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The election materials were handed over to staff concerned for NA-31 at
Nishter Hall Peshawar and also dispatched to district returning officers
of Charsadda and Mardan.

Provincial Election Commissioner (PEC), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Muhammad
Farid Khattak visited the material distribution places and issued
instructions to District Returning Officers (DRO) and Returning Officers
(ROs) for fair and transparent elections. He urged all the voters,
particularly women to exercise their right to vote by visiting polling
stations without any fear or threat to perform their national duty.

The constituencies wherein the by-election is scheduled include NA-22
Mardan, NA-24 Charsadda and NA-31 Peshawar-V.

The total number of voters in these constituencies is over 1,450,000,
out of which the number of men is over 850,000 while 642,000 are women.

The polling will begin at 8:00 a.m. and will continue till 5:00 p.m.
without any interval. However, voters present inside the polling
stations will be allowed to cast their votes despite the expiry of the
time.

A total of 16 candidates are contesting from these constituencies, four
each from NA-22 Mardan and NA-24 Charsadda, while eight candidates are
contesting from NA-31, Peshawar-V respectively.

According to the spokesman of the Provincial Election Commission, 979
polling stations have been established in all three NA constituencies
including 429 polling stations for men and 351 for women, while 199
polling stations are for both men and women.

Out of the 979 polling stations 745 have been declared as highly
sensitive and 234 as sensitive. Strict security measures have been
ensured.

For evolving election strategy, a meeting among all returning officers,
district administration and officers concerned was also held to conduct
this phase of the by-election in a smooth manner.

Special training has also been imparted to all presiding officers and
polling staff for compilation of election results. Media has been
restricted from broadcasting any unofficial result.

The provincial election commission has made a complaint to the Chief
Secretary KP and IGP due to non cooperation and indifferent attitude of
DPO Charsadda in connection with the conduct of fee and fair by election
in Charsadda. DNA