Pakistan's EC to set up 90,675 polling stations for 128 million voters

Pakistan's election commission has unveiled the final polling scheme for the February 8 polls under which it will set up 90,675 polling stations for the 128 million voters, according to a media report on Saturday.

The final polling scheme was announced by the election body, weeks after twice failing to comply with the legal deadline to announce the plan at least 30 days ahead of the election, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Section 59 (6) of the Elections Act 2017 requires the publication of the final list of polling stations of each constituency, at least 30 days before polling day, in the official gazette as well as the website of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The plan unveiled by the ECP on Friday outlines the distribution of polling stations across all four provinces and the federal capital, categorising them as normal, sensitive, or highly sensitive based on the security situation and electoral violence history.

"A total of 90,675 polling stations with 276,402 polling booths will be set up across Pakistan under the polling scheme for a total of 128 million voters," said the report.

Had the law been followed, the number of polling stations would have been over 107,000, with each having four polling booths, the report said.

In other words, over 150,000 fewer polling booths are being established than required under the law, making it almost impossible at various places for all present to vote, even if polling time is extended in case of a high turnout, the report said.

"In Punjab, 50,944 polling stations will be established for the general elections, followed by 19,006 in Sindh,15,697 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and 5,028 in Balochistan," said the report.

Meanwhile, the ECP is faced with a challenging situation, with the superior judiciary continuing to allow candidates to contest elections or ordering change of poll symbols to them.

Sources in the commission said printing of ballot papers for some of the constituencies these candidates are to contest has already been completed.

It has been learnt that the schedule for ballot paper printing was already tight, and re-printing would be possible at the end, highlighting that ensuring their timely transportation to the constituencies across the country was also a daunting task.

Currently, the sources said, some 260 m ballot papers were being printed for the 128 m voters in the country.