PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan will set up 1,884 polling stations in the 12 National Assembly constituencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with 2.509 million residents eligible to cast vote in the July 25 elections.

The number of voters registered in Fata has gone up by 771,267 since the 2013 general elections.

The July 25th will be the last general elections under the current electoral structure in Fata due to the merger of the tribal region’s with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through the Constitution (Twenty Fifth Amendment) Act, 2018.

In the future general elections, the number of NA constituencies in these areas will decrease and will be counted among KP’s.

The polling scheme for tribal areas shows a disparity between male and female voters as the number of registered male voters is 1.507 million (60.08 per cent) whereas that of female voters is 1.001 million (39.91 per cent).

Region’s constituencies will be counted among KP’s in next elections due to merger

During the previous general elections, 1.738 million people in Fata had cast vote with 1.142 million of them (65.7 per cent) being men and 596,079 (34.2 per cent) women.

The ratio of increase in the number of male and female votes tilts towards the latter as the increase in female voters is 68.03 per cent and that of male voters is 32.01 per cent but a difference of 506,281 votes persists.

This gender disparity is more evident in North Waziristan, where of the total 274,205 voters, 196,668 (71.72 per cent) are men and 77,537 (28.27 per cent) are women.

During the previous elections, the voters in North Waziristan had totaled 160,666, including 148,962 (92.71 per cent) men and only 11,704 (7.28 per cent) women.

Of the 12 National Assembly seats, two are in Bajaur, Khyber, Kurram and South Waziristan regions each, while North Waziristan, Orakzai, Mohmand and six Frontier Regions have one seat each.

Bajaur region has the highest number of voters in Fata i.e. 492,732, including 288,958 (58.64 per cent) men and 203,774 (41.35 per cent) women.

In Khyber region, 491,844 people have been registered as voters, including 277,530 (56.426 per cent) men and 214,314 (43.57 per cent) women.

The registered voters in Kurram region total 337,865. Among them, 193,244 (57.19 per cent) are men and 144,621 (42.80 per cent) women.

South Waziristan region has 324,165 voters including 198,093 (61.10 per cent) men and 126,071 (38.89 per cent) women, Mohmand 255,552, including 158,873 (62.16 per cent) men and 966,79 (37.83 per cent) women, and Orakzai 167,206, including 942,79 (56.38) men and 72927 (43.61 per cent) women.

In the six Frontier Regions, which jointly constitute the NA-51 constituency, the registered voters total 166,014, including 100,287 (60.40 per cent) men and 65,727 (39.59 per cent) women.

NA-48, North Waziristan, is the largest constituency in Fata with 274,205 voters followed by NA-44 Khyber with 265,217 and NA-40 Bajaur with 255,579 voters.

The smallest number of voters i.e. 145,872 is in NA-50, South Waziristan.

POLLING STATIONS: The polling scheme shows of the total 1884 polling stations to be set up in Fata by the ECP, 1,058 will be combined, 450 for men only and 352 for women only.

In NA-47 Orakzai region, all the 177 polling stations will be combined, where 523 polling booths will be established including 279 for men and 244 for women.

Similarly, in NA-48 North Waziristan, where there is marked disparity between number of male and female voters, 161 polling stations will be set up including 89 combined, 50 for male voters and 20 for women.

Some observers believe that the setting up of combined polling stations might affect the turnout of female voters in those stations.

Although, separate polling booths will be established in these stations, but these would be in the same premises having same presiding officer.

Moreover, in NA 40 Bajaur, out of total 175 polling stations 145 will be combined whereas 15 each will be for male and female voters. I another constituency of Bajaur, NA- 41, 117 polling stations will be combined out of total161 whereas 23 will be for males and 21 for female voters.

In NA-42 Mohmand region, 189 polling stations including 71 combined, 66 for males and 52 for female voters will be established.

Similarly, in NA-43 Khyber region, 182 polling stations will be established out of which 93 will be for male voters, 72 for women and nine combined. In NA-22, Khyber region, 199 polling stations including 98 for men, 78 for women and 16 combined will be established.

In two NA constituencies, NA-45 and NA-46 of Kurram region, total 246 polling stations will be established 104 combined and 60 each for male and female voters. Similarly, in NA-49 and NA-50 constituencies of South Waziristan, 234 polling stations will be established including 179 combined, 33 for men and 22 for women.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2018