PESHAWAR:In the second phase of local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the Election Commission has set up a total 6176 polling stations in 18 districts of the province, out of which 1609 were declared highly sensitive and 2319 sensitive by the police.
It was informed during a high-level meeting held here at the Central Police Office, wherein KP Police Chief Moazzam Jahan Ansari reviewed the security arrangements for the local body elections.
During the briefing the IGP was informed that in 18 districts of Malakand, Hazara, Kohat, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan divisions, elections are being held for a total of 12,875 seats for Mayor, Chairman, Village Council and Neighborhood Council in which 39,554 candidates are contesting.
It was informed that 1609 polling stations are classified as highly sensitive, 2319 as sensitive and 2059 as normal and police officials would be deployed at the polling stations as per their sensitivity.
It was said that a total of 16,509 polling booths have been set up for the second phase of local body elections including 9218 for men and 7291 for women. The IGP was further informed that 54,610 personnel would be deployed for the security of local body elections.
KP IGP Moazzam Jahan Ansari directed the participants of the meeting to immediately cancel the police leave in the entire province and ban the new leave. He asked all District Police Officers, SDPOs and SHOs to visit all the polling stations in their respective areas and work out security plans according to their nature.
The participants were also instructed that all police personnel on election duty would wear bulletproof jackets and helmets.
He directed to accelerate intelligence gathering and coordination with other law enforcement agencies to monitor threats to law and order, security and tensions between candidates and prevent any untoward incidents.
He also directed to provide the phone number of the control room to all and keep it operational day and night. Police officials were also directed to ensure full implementation of the code of conduct issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan with regard to local body elections.
The IGP clarified that the peaceful conduct of local body elections 2022 is a test of police capabilities and they were instructed to carry out their professional duties with utmost honesty so that no one would have the slightest doubt about the security.
Additional IGP Operations, DIG Training, DIG Headquarters, Commandant FRP, Regional Police Officer Hazara, Regional Police Officer Malakand, DIG Operations, Deputy Commandant Elite Force, AIG Operations and other senior police officials attended the meeting.
The IGP was given a detailed briefing on election security, nature of polling stations, available manpower and challenges.