Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed has said that the security situation in the country is not a hurdle in holding free, fair and transparent elections per schedule.
“The security situation is not satisfactory but despite that the ECP will hold elections in all districts of the country and FATA on time,” he said.
He said the security situation in Punjab, which was 60 percent of the total population, was satisfactory, adding that though law and order in Karachi was an issue, the situation in the rest of Sindh was normal.
“Law and order in some districts of Balochistan is unsatisfactory and security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is also not satisfactory,” the ECP secretary said.
However, he added that the ECP would hold a meeting with the provincial governments within the next 10 days to finalise the security plan.
He said local police, the Rangers and the army had been assigned to provide security to political leadership in troubled areas.
Ahmed said it was a good omen that nearly 14 political parties were participating in the election in Balochistan and all political parties in KP were also actively taking part in the democratic process.
To a question, he said a total of 500 teams of the ECP had been deployed across the country to monitor the election campaign of the candidates with the help of 1,000 video cameras aiming to detect violation of the code of conduct.
“The teams will prepare reports of the election campaign of all 272 constituencies and assigned to submit the report and take action against the violators,” he said.
The ECP secretary said the election code of conduct had been prepared with the coordination of political parties, civil society and the media.
“The ECP has already achieved 80 percent of its goals and objectives which were set by it.”
He said before the elections, a total of 15 goals and 130 objectives had been set for ensuring free, fair and transparent elections, adding that the preparation of error-free computerised electoral roll was a great achievement of the ECP.
“The transparent electoral rolls would serve as a foundation for holding free, impartial and acceptable to all elections in the country,” he said.
Ahmed said all citizens having computerised national identity cards (CNIC) had been registered as voters. “Printing of ballot papers would begin soon and the army has been deployed at the printing press.”
About granting voting rights to overseas Pakistanis he said, “It is the desire of all that our brothers living in various countries should be given the right of franchise.”
Ahmed said around 4.5 million overseas Pakistanis had been registered as voters, adding that the ECP had earlier decided to grant a right to vote to expatriate Pakistanis through postal ballot.
“Now the Supreme Court had directed the authorities to devise an IT related plan to provide voting right to expatriate Pakistanis.”
The secretary said NADRA had prepared software to enable overseas Pakistanis to cast their vote. “However, in such a short time it is not possible for the ECP to make voting arrangements for overseas Pakistanis.”
To a question, he said some political parties had expressed reservations on some clauses of the code of conduct even though it had been prepared with the coordination of all political parties.
He said, “The ECP has not mentioned any new clause in the code of conduct and reservations from the political parties will be addressed.”
He said every political party had the right to propagate its ideology and everyone was free to highlight its manifesto.
To a question, Ahmed said articles 62 and 63 were part of the constitution and before the elections both the articles were discussed with the political parties for their effective implementation.