Entire Karachi to vote in ‘sensitive’ polling stations in LG elections this Sunday

Karachi (HRNW) After a violence-marred first phase of the elections in rural centers of Sindh, around 5,000 polling stations in Karachi have been either declared ‘highly sensitive’ or ‘sensitive’ for the second phase of the local government elections in the province to be held on Sunday.

Nearly 38,000 police personnel will perform duties in the metropolis on election day for the peaceful conduct of the exercise.

Karachi Police Chief Javed Alam Odho shared details about the engagement of the security apparatus during the second phase of local bodies elections in the province at a press conference on Wednesday.

He said that some 4,966 polling stations have been set up in the metropolis for the second phase of the local bodies polls and among them, 1,246 have been declared highly sensitive while 3,750 have been declared sensitive.

The police chief said that they have taken preemptive security measures for the peaceful organization of LG polls and added that security plans for all seven districts of the megacity have been devised as per instructions.

Collectively, Odho said that some 37,861 police officials and personnel will perform duties in Karachi during the local bodies elections. Among them, 24,968 will perform duties at polling stations while up to 10,000 will be part of the quick response force.

Describing it, he said that eight police personnel will be deployed at highly sensitive polling stations while four will be deployed at sensitive ones.

These police personnel will be accompanied by private guards, he added.

He added that some 4,438 police personnel will be reserved to act in an emergency.

Apart from the manpower, the police chief said 1,714 vehicles have been reserved for security duty while 408 persons having 154 vehicles will serve duties for the welfare of the policemen.

He said that separate police teams have been constituted for the safe dispatching of polling material while security arrangements have been completed at offices of the election commission of Pakistan, district returning officers, and officers.

The police chief said the police will act in accordance with the law on orders of presiding officers to ensure peaceful voting process inside the polling stations.