PESHAWAR, April 27: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has asked the Malakand division authorities to take administrative measures to create a congenial atmosphere for the women voters to cast their votes, ensuring their participation in the polling process.

Provincial information minister Musarrat Qadeem, according to an official handout issued on Saturday has directed the Malakand division’s commissioner to take all possible measures to ensure that female voters freely exercise their right to vote on the polling day.

The divisional administration was asked to make sure that the women voters were not refrained from casting votes. Ms Qadeem, who also holds the charge of the ministry of education, social welfare and women empowerment, issued instructions to the commissioner to thwart undemocratic elements’ reported efforts to deny women voters their right to adult franchise.

In a letter to the commissioner, according to the official release, she said that certain civil society organisations had reported that in some districts, the contesting candidates might enter into agreements to stop women from casting their votes.—Bureau Report