47 polling stations in Daska by-election declared sensitive

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has declared 47 polling stations as sensitive out of 360 as all is set for polling in the Daska by-election on April 10, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The ECP directed the authorities to install over 100 CCTV cameras at sensitive polling stations to monitor the situation on polling day due on April 10 in NA-75 Daska. 

Rangers and police have been deployed in the constituency with Pakistan Army soldiers on standby.

Meanwhile, more than 2,500 police personnel have been deployed in Daska for election duty on the polling day. These personnel, armed with defence shields, batons and tear-gas shells, will stay in the city for three days.

These personnel arrived in the city on six big vehicles.

SOPs for Presiding Officers

a. Under section 13(2) of the Elections Act, 2017, the Presiding Officer / Assistant Presiding Officer shall have a smartphone to be used for maintaining communication with the District Returning Officer / Returning Officer /District Monitoring Officer and take a snapshot of Form-45 (result) at the premises of Polling Station at the time of declaration of result and send it to the ECP and the Returning Officer; 

b. In case, if the Presiding Officer does not possess/have a smartphone, in such cases the Assistant Presiding Officer will be deputed for compliance with section 13(2) of the Elections Act, 2017: 

c. The Presiding Officer / Assistant Presiding Officer shall ensure to activate location feature of the mobile phone on the polling day and for taking a snapshot of Form-45; 

d He/she shall take a snapshot of Form-45 using his/her mobile in the presence of polling agents at the premises of the polling station: 

e. He/she shall transmit the Form-45 to the Returning Officer and ECP on a dedicated Whatsapp channel immediately in the presence of polling agents from the polling station. 

f. In case of poor network connectivity, he/she shall not wait at the Polling Station and proceed to the Office of the Returning Officer immediately for submission of polling records including Form-45 under Section-90 of the Elections Act, 2017; 

g. The Presiding Officer / Assistant Presiding Officer will submit Form-45 (original) and show the snapshot of Form-45 to Returning Officer with forensic details of the photograph(s) of Form-45 which includes Time and location of the photographs: 

h. The Returning Officer, in case of all such cases where the Presiding Officer/Assistant Presiding Officer could not transmit the snapshot of Form-45 due to poor network connectivity will check the photograph and location details about the time of the photograph and location and take picture of these forensic details on his mobile. The Returning Officer will make these forensic details part of his record.

Reporters Mian Muhammad Ashfaq and Muhammad Chand Malik