SWABI, Jan 13: At least 155 out of 499 polling stations in the district have been declared as sensitive.

Official sources told Dawn on Sunday that the declaration had prompted authorities to devise elaborate security measures for maintaining law and order.

The sources said that 155 polling stations had been placed in category ‘A’ and declared ‘sensitive’, and 344 polling stations had been placed in category ‘C’ and declared ‘normal’ by authorities.

“Among the sensitive polling stations, 12 have been declared ‘extremely sensitive’ and additional police force or Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel will be deployed to deal with any eventuality,” an official said.

District Coordination Officer Mohammad Adil said the district police force was inadequate for providing security on polling day and the local administration had asked the provincial home department to direct the FC to assist it.

There are two national and six provincial assembly constituencies in Swabi. There are 248 polling stations in NA-12 (Swabi-I). Three provincial constituencies-- PF-31 (Swabi-I), PF-32 (Swabi-II) and PF-33 (Swabi-III)-- comprise the NA-12. In PF-31, there are 37 male, 30 female and 12 combined polling stations. The total number of polling stations in PF-32 is 81, out of which 35 are male, 31 female and 15 combined. In PF-33, there are 47 male, 38 female and 3 combined polling stations.

Majority of the ‘sensitive’ polling stations are located in NA-12 (Swabi-I) from where Awami National Party central president Asfandyar Wali Khan is contesting the election. His rival Usman Khan Tarakai is the uncle of district nazim Shahram Khan.

There are 251 polling stations in NA-13 (Swabi-II). Provincial constituencies-- PF-34 (Swabi-IV), PF-35 (Swabi-V) and PF-36 (Swabi-V1)-- comprise NA-13.

In PF-34, there are 40 male, 33 female and 6 combined polling stations. The total number of polling stations in PF-35 is 90, of which 45 are male, 40 female and 5 combined. In PF-36, there are 38 male, 34 female and 10 combined polling stations.

TOTAL VOTES: The number of registered voters jumped to 572,388 from 474,220 voters in the 2002 general election, of which 343,858 are males and 228,530 are females.

Before the 2002 election, there was one national and four provincial constituencies in the district.

The sources said the total voters in NA-12 (Swabi-I) are 284,227, of which 171,788 are males and 112,439 females. In NA-13 (Swabi-II), there are 288,161 voters, of which 172,070 are males and 116,091 are females.

In PF-31 (Swabi-I), the total voters are 96,247, of which 57,908 are males and 38,339 females. In PF-32 (Swabi-II), the total voters are 91,619, of which 55612 are males and 36,007 females. The number of voters in PF-33 (Swabi-III) is 96,361, of which 58,268 are males and 38,093 females. In the PF-34 (Swabi-IV), the total voters are 91,863, of which 56,162 are males and 35,701 females. The total voters in PF-35 (Swabi-V) are 103,366, of which 61,619 are males and 41,747 females.

There are 92,932 voters in PF-36 (Swabi-VI), of which 54,289 are males and 38,643 females.