Election commission says will consider relocating ‘sensitive’ polling stations for tribal belt elections

PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said on Friday the polling body and security officials had chalked out a comprehensive plan to ensure that upcoming elections in the erstwhile tribal areas were held in a secure and peaceful environment but said it would consider relocating hundreds of polling stations at a security risk if candidates and tribal elders officially requested it. 
Last May, Pakistan’s parliament voted to merge seven lawless tribal regions previously known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas into the country’s political and legal mainstream, granting the area’s five million majority ethnic Pashtuns the same constitutional rights as other Pakistanis.
The first-ever provincial elections in the newly merged areas are now scheduled for July 20. Over the years, the lawlessness of the tribal regions have provided a haven for militants, gun runners and drug smugglers, with residents complaining they have been caught between the brutality of the militant groups that sheltered there and a state that has tried to combat them through armed operations. Security remains precarious. 
This week, tribal leaders and candidates of some opposition parties demanded that the Election Commission shift polling stations located in sensitive areas to more secure locations in the newly-merged districts and deploy women security personnel in women-only polling stations.
According to the Election Commission, there will be polling at 1,897 stations throughout the erstwhile tribal areas on July 20, with 958 of them declared normal, 584 sensitive and 455 marked as most sensitive.
Khushal Zada, a deputy director at the ECP, told Arab News that those demanding that sensitive polling stations be shifted to secure zones should officially approach the Election Commission.
“We can consider this if they officially come up with an application regarding relocation of those polling stations declared highly sensitive,” Zada said. “There are no official complaints about inaccessibility or imminent insecurity even in remote polling stations.”
“District police officers chalked out an inclusive security plan at a meeting attended by Returning Officers, District Returning Officers and top security officials to secure all polling stations, specifically those declared most sensitive,” Zada added. 
He said election staff would be reinforced by security forces and police on patrol duty. 
Sohail Ahmad, provincial ECP spokesman, said the military would ensure security during the upcoming election in the erstwhile FATA areas.
As per the ECP’s plan, soldiers will be deployed inside and outside polling stations for all 16 seats in the provincial elections from July 18 to July 21 to assist the ECP in conducting free, fair and transparent elections. The military has been requisitioned by the ECP under Articles 220 and 245 of the Constitution.
Security forces will be deployed at the Printing Corporation of Pakistan in Islamabad from July 5 to July 20 to help transport and store ballot papers. Soldiers will escort ballot papers from the printing corporation to the offices of the District Returning Officers and the Returning Officers and then from the offices of ROs to the polling stations. After polling ends, security forces will escort ballot papers back to the district treasuries and ECP strong rooms as per the plan issued by the commission. Troops will remain at the offices of returning officers until the consolidation of elections results.
Security forces will also be deployed at all venues where presiding officers, senior assistant presiding officers and polling officers will be trained from June 24 to July 7.
“Security personnel will be deployed inside and outside highly sensitive polling stations but they will only be deployed outside those polling stations declared sensitive and normal,” the ECP spokesman added. 
Mir Kalam Wazir, an independent candidate, said he expected people to come out and vote even in highly sensitive areas but “there was no harm in relocating some polling stations if people were demanding it.”