Voting will be held on Thursday for the general elections in Pakistan and it is believed that the frontrunner, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has the support of the army.
Incidents of violence also took place on Wednesday, on the eve of the general elections. At least 30 people were killed and more than 40 injured in twin bomb blasts targeting election offices in Balochistan province.
With former Prime Minister Imran Khan in jail, Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) may emerge as the largest party in the elections.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate is contesting the elections as an independent after the Supreme Court upheld the Election Commission’s decision to strip his party of its election symbol cricket ‘bat’.
Sharif, 74, will be eyeing a record fourth term as prime minister in Thursday’s elections. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is also included in this contest.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has been declared the face of the post of Prime Minister by the party.
The Election Commission of Pakistan had issued a schedule for holding the elections in December last year and kept the election process intact despite the deteriorating security situation.
About 6,50,000 security personnel have been deployed for the general elections in Pakistan.
Officials said that more than 12.85 crore registered voters will vote in this election. According to ‘Radio Pakistan’ news, about 6,50,000 security personnel have been deployed to ensure the safety of voters. These include police, civil armed forces and armed forces personnel.
Voting will begin at 8 am on Thursday and will continue till 5 pm. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), 5,121 candidates are in the fray for the National Assembly, including 4,807 men, 312 women and two transgenders.
There are 12,695 candidates in the fray for the four provincial assemblies, including 12,123 men, 570 women and two transgenders.
An ECP official said the presiding officer, who has already been given special powers of the magistrate, will take the voting material to the polling stations under the protection of police and army personnel.
According to the commission data, Punjab has the highest number of registered voters at 7,32,07,896, followed by Sindh at 2,69,94,769, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 2,19,28,119, Balochistan at 53,71,947 and capital Islamabad at 10,83,029. Are voters.
The ECP has set up 9,07,675 polling stations across the country, including 25,320 for male voters, 23,952 for women and another 41,403 mixed polling stations.
According to the Election Commission, 44,000 polling stations are normal while 29,985 have been declared sensitive and 16,766 highly sensitive.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party ‘PTI’ on Wednesday alleged that political collusion was being carried out in Pakistan to achieve “desired results” to form a government of its choice in the February 8 elections.
PTI spokesperson Rauf Hasan said on Wednesday that political collusion is being made to prevent Khan’s party from winning the elections on Thursday.
Khan and his party have alleged that there is no level playing field in the current election process. The PTI leader has also blamed the military establishment for preventing him from coming back to power.
Pakistan rejected the UN human rights body’s concerns about violence and the right to fundamental democratic freedoms ahead of general elections in the country and said the government had finalized security plans in accordance with its electoral laws.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, reacting to a statement issued by a spokeswoman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Pakistan is committed to upholding the rule of law and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed by its laws and constitution. Does.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had expressed concern about violent incidents ahead of the upcoming general elections to be held on February 8.
“We condemn all acts of violence against political parties and candidates and urge authorities to uphold the fundamental freedoms necessary for an inclusive and meaningful democratic process,” UN spokeswoman Liz Throssell said in a statement. ”