ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has accelerated the preparations for the upcoming general elections and plans to enlist nearly one million individuals to fill essential roles for the elections.
According to preliminary estimates, “There will be approximately 700,000 polling staff members, and the count may increase to around 900,000 to 1 million when including security personnel. The final number will be confirmed once the Election Schedule is announced,” the ECP sources told on Sunday.
A list of presiding officers, assistant presiding officers and polling staff has been compiled, with a total of 10,7361 officers set to be deployed nationwide.
In Punjab, approximately 54,706 presiding officers, 310,968 assistant presiding officers, and 160,445 polling staff will be assigned election duties. In the province, a sum total of 526,123 officers will be appointed.
In Sindh, 20,315 presiding officers, 162,523 assistant presiding officers and 81,262 polling staff will be appointed, bringing the total number of officers in the province to 264,100.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 16,525 presiding officers, 100,085 assistant presiding officers and 50,045 polling staff will be appointed, making a combined total of 166,655 officers.
In Balochistan, a combined number of 50,491 officers will be designated, including 5,266 presiding officers, 30,150 assistant presiding officers and 15,075 polling staff.
On the other hand, The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) asked all eligible voters to get them registered by October 25 (Wednesday) as the process for registration of new voters, correction of their particulars and transfer of votes will close on the day.
According to the ECP official, the facilitation desks operated by the Election Commission in both Islamabad and its district-level offices are actively engaged in accomplishing this assignment.
He urged people to register or rectify discrepancies in the voter lists to ensure their alignment with their Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs) data by October 25, 2023.
The Election Commission invoked the Elections Act, 2017 to freeze the voter lists on July 20, 2023. In order to simplify the process for the public, the lists were then unfrozen from September 28 to October 25, 2023, allowing all eligible individuals to either register, withdraw or rectify their information.
