LAHORE: As the preparations to hold general elections on Feb 8 are underway, most polling stations in Lahore have been declared “sensitive” or “highly sensitive”, leaving the quarters concerned with no option but to focus on the Punjab capital in this regard.

According to a document shared with the officers concerned in a meeting presided over by Lahore Commissioner Muhammad Ali Randhawa, for 14 National Assembly constituencies (NA-117 to NA-130) and 30 Punjab Assembly constituencies (PP-145 to PP-174), a total of 4,354 polling stations, have been finalised. Of these, 1,120 have been declared as “highly sensitive” and placed under category ‘A’. Likewise, 3,107 other polling stations have been marked as “sensitive” and put under category ‘B’. However, the remaining 127 polling stations fall under category ‘C’, which means no issues exist there.

The document mentions that all the 4,352 stations will have total 12,988 polling booths.

Meanwhile, as many as 4,624 presiding officers, 27,481 assistant presiding officers and 13,741 polling officers have been finalised for performing polling duties. The total number of returning and assistant returning officers headed by the Lahore deputy commissioner (district returning officer) for the Lahore city district – the country’s second largest city – is 44 and 88, respectively.

Polling process to be monitored with 10,000 CCTV cameras

Since there is a plan to install 10,000 CCTV cameras at the polling stations, as many as 60 monitoring officers will also perform duty to supervise the electoral process there.

“Most of the preparatory work ahead of the elections has been completed, include setting up of a control room and election cell, finalisation of duty roaster of all departments, voters lists, polling schemes etc. At present, the transport plan is being finalised,” an official told Dawn on Friday.

“All arrangements will be completed before Jan 31,” the official, requesting anonymity, added.

Lahore metropolitan city, according to the document, has a total population of 13 million people as per 2023 census, with an area of 1,772 square kilometer. It has five tehsils, nine municipal zones, 274 union councils and 84 police stations. The number of registered voters in Lahore is over 6.858 million, which include over 3.636m male and 3.221m female voters.

Meanwhile, the commissioner seeks implementation of the election code of conduct in letter and spirit, besides timely dissemination of all information related to poll-related jobs through fast communication and provision of necessary equipment.

“For 4,354 polling stations, an effective security plan, according to each category [A,B,C] should be finalised,” he said while presiding over the meeting.

Mr Randhawa said the whole election process would be monitored through 10,000 CCTV cameras in the Lahore district. He also reviewed the preparations regarding transport provision plan, polling scheme, district control rooms and duty rosters.

Taking notice of the staff absent from the election duties training sessions, he directed the district administration to forward the relevant data to the Election Commission of Pakistan immediately.

He says the administration will discharge its duties with complete neutrality and strict action will be taken against those found involved in any sort of favouritism.

Mr Ali said surety bonds should be taken from all the candidates in a bid to hold free, fair and transparent elections. “No one will be allowed to violate the code of conduct,” he warned, adding that the administration and police must be in contact with the ECP on all poll-related issues.

The meeting was also attended by the Regional Election Commissioner Majid Sharif Dogar, DIG Operations Ali Nasir Rizvi, Additional Commissioner Hamid Malhi, ADC Finance Umar Maqbool, Deputy Director Hafiz Iqbal, SP Security Akhlaq Ullah Khan, district election commissioners (1, II and III), Lahore DC and others.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2024