ISLAMABAD – The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced a public holiday on July 25 across the country as the country is going to the polls to elect new government.
The notice of a holiday has been sent to all government and private institutions prior to the announcement.
Polling will commence tomorrow from 8am to 6pm. As many as 12,570 candidates are contesting for a total of 849 seats of national and provincial assemblies in the general election.
Political parties and their candidates made intense, last-minute efforts to garner ever greater public support for the elections, as the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) deadline for electioneering expired midnight on Tuesday.
Two main contenders have emerged among the dozens of political parties in the election fray: the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which aims to win a second term despite the jailing of its founder, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, for corruption.
Around 1.6 million electoral staff are to be on duty on the election day. 449,465 policemen will be deployed, out of which 202,100 will be posted in Punjab and Islamabad while 100,500 will be stationed in Sindh. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 87,269 policemen will be on duty.
Approximately 800,000 law enforcement and army personnel will discharge duties for ensuring security on July 25.
The process of deployment of troops for free, fair and transparent conduct of General Election 2018 has been completed, the Inter-Services Public Relations said on Monday.
The ECP has planned special security measures for 17,007 highly sensitive polling stations throughout the country.
According to ECP, 5,878 of the polling stations declared as highly sensitive were from Sindh province, 5,487 from Punjab and Islamabad, 3,874 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, and 1,768 from Balochistan.
A total of 85,307 polling stations have been set up in all the four provinces, FATA and the federal capital. 47,813 of the polling stations are in Punjab, 17,747 in Sindh, 12,634 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 4,420 in Balochistan, 797 in the federal capital and 1,896 in FATA.
