ISLAMABAD: The Election Commis­sion of Pakistan (ECP) has completed the training of approximately 1.49 million officials who’d perform duties during the upcoming general elections on February 8.

In a statement, the ECP spokesman said the training sessions enhanced the capability of election personnel to carry out their responsibilities “proficiently and professionally”.

According to the spokesperson, 27,676 sessions were conducted across the country over 87 days. The training sessions were conducted by 3,821 master trainers.

The training sessions started on November 19, 2023 and concluded on February 3. The participants who completed the training included 144 District Returning Officers, 859 Returning Officers, and other polling staff.

Over 500,000 personnel also trained for security duties

A total of 7,663 two-day training sessions were held to train 191,526 polling staff, including both Presiding Officers and Senior Assistant Presiding Officers (APOs).

Additionally, 19,630 training sessions were conducted for 785,060 APOs and Polling Officers.

The spokesperson added that to guarantee transparent, free, and fair elections, 32 Regional Monitoring Coordina­tors and 1,336 District Monitoring Offi­cers were appointed at the regional level to oversee election activities in accordance with Section 234 of the Election Act, 2017. Adequate training was also provided for Monitoring Officers.

The commission conducted 148 training sessions to improve the operation of the Election Management System (EMS), engaging around 5,000 officers and data entry operators linked with returning officers.

According to the spokesperson, 1,400 officials were trained for security duties during the elections. These officials delivered essential training to 503,495 security personnel.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2024