Keeping in mind the security issues for the upcoming general elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has categorized 1,558 polling stations, out of 2,777 to be set up in the Rawalpindi district as sensitive.
Out of these, 1,558 polling stations, 580 have been placed in the A-Category of “highly sensitive” whereas, 978 have been declared as “sensitive” and put in Category-B.
According to the details, army troops are likely to be deployed at the “highly sensitive polling stations” on the polling day, adding that all the stations house officers (SHOs) of the areas where these polling stations would be set up have been directed to keep a check on the security situation.
The decisions were made during the top-level meeting which had been convened to frame the foolproof security arrangements for the polling day. The senior police officers have also been directed to hold meetings with the returning officers (ROs) and the assistant returning officers (AROs) and keeping in contact with them regarding the security arrangements.
Along with this, the police officers have also been asked for providing the estimate about the number of CCTV cameras, which is set to be installed at the sensitive polling stations and also to identify the highly sensitive areas where the troops, Rangers and Quick Response Force (QRF) personnel would be deployed. They have also been asked to highlight the areas where the checkposts would be set up and to identify the places where the reserve force would be deployed in the stand-by mode.
Moreover, they also made directions to all the SHOs to secure surety bonds from those who wanted to hold public meetings and processions and to ensure that the location of such events was chosen with the security in mind.
Similarly, control rooms would be established to monitor the security situation when the polling material will be transported to the polling stations.
There are seven National Assembly and 14 provincial assembly seats in the Rawalpindi district which has 3,307,083 registered voters.
