PESHAWAR: Voting began at 8 am on Sunday during the local government elections in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa amid tight security arrangements.
During the elections, 77,000 policemen and law-enforcement personnel will be deployed outside polling stations and booths for the security of voters. Quick Response Force’s personnel would also be deployed to ‘nearby areas of responsibility’ for responding to any untoward situation during elections.
The elections for the slot of mayor city council Dera Ismail Khan were postponed after the death of Awami National Party’s candidate, Mohammad Umar Khitab, in an attack on Saturday. Security in DIK and other districts was upgraded after the incident.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), a total of 9,223 polling stations and 28,892 polling booths have been set up for the December 19 elections.
In Peshawar, 860 polling stations have been designated as sensitive, 165 as most sensitive, and 224 as normal. CCTV cameras have been installed and both of these sensitive locations and it is prohibited to carry weapons or electronic devices in all polling stations.
Over 12.668 million registered voters, including 7,015,757 male and 5,653,095 female voters, would decide the fate of 37,752 candidates contesting for different seats in Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsadda, Khyber, Mohmand, Mardan, Swabi, Kohat, Karak, Hangu, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, DI Khan, Tank, Haripur, Buner, and Bajaur districts.
About 689 candidates are in the run for 689 tehsils — 19,285 for general seats of village, and neighbourhood councils, 3,870 for women, 7,428 for farmers and labour, 6,011 for youth and 293 for minorities.
A total of 17 candidates are in the fray for the Peshawar City Council mayorship. These include business tycoon Rizwan Bangash from the PTI, PPP’s Arbab Zarak Khan, ANP’s Sher Rehman, Bahrullah from Jamaat-e-Islami and Zubair Ali from JUI-F.
The candidates, who win tehsils in five divisional headquarters — Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat, Bannu and DI Khan, will be called mayors, while elected candidates of 61 other tehsils will be called chairmen.
