Voting begins in GB Legislative Assembly polls
November 12, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Polling has begun in Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly elections.
Polling has begun in Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly elections. Over 7,17,286 voters will elect members of the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly.
More than 250 candidates are taking part in the election being held in 23 constituencies out of 24. There would be no polling in constituency GB-19 where election was postponed due to the demise of MQM candidate Sher Bahadur Khan.
According to the Election Commission, 3,32,377 female and 3,84,909 male voters would cast their votes to elect 23 members for the assembly.
The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements to ensure smooth conduct of election. It has set up 982 polling stations in all six districts of Gilgit-Baltistan, of which 253 are reserved for women while 258 for male voters. Besides 511 mixed polling stations, the Election Commission has declared 153 polling stations sensitive and 119 stations very sensitive.
An election cell and a control room have also been established to address complaints or give information about the polls. Moreover, in order to conduct the election in a smooth manner, 24 returning officers and 25 assistant returning officers have been deployed while more than 3,000 polling staff has also been assigned duties on the polling day.
Foolproof security measures have been adopted under which around 5,000 security staff is deployed at the polling stations, especially the sensitive and highly sensitive stations. Two battalions of the Army have been called and moved to different areas of the region. Army soldiers would be available on a call in case of any emergency.
Meanwhile, political activities and election campaign ended at midnight on Wednesday under the election order. The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of the area, Rahim Nawaz Khan Durrani, has directed all the district election commissioners and polling staff to ensure on time arrival at their respective stations.
Gilgit-Baltistan; Election Campaigns in Full Swing
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Election campaigns of various political parties are full swing in Gilgit-Baltistan. As many as total 264 candidates are contesting for 24 seats of Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly.
For the election to be held on Nov 12, there are 23 candidates contesting from PPP, 20 from MQM, 14 from PML-N, 14 from PML-Q, 6 from Jamiat-e Ulema-e Islam, 3 from Jamaat-e Islami, 10 from the Gilgit-Baltistan Democratic Alliance, 4 from the ANP and 2 from TIP and 2 from Balawaristan National Front.
According to the election commission, there are 166 independent candidates in the field.
The Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Election Commissioner Raheem Durrani said that law-enforcement agencies have been called for maintaining law and order in the region.
After the death of the constituency LA-19 candidate Sher Bahadur, MQM now has 19 candidates.
Gilgit-Baltistan; Election Campaigns in Full Swing was first posted on November 7, 2009 at 2:45 pm.
