Over 25,000 police personnel to guard 5,000 polling stations in Karachi for local government polls

Karachi: Over 25,000 police personnel will be deployed to ensure peaceful voting at 4,995 polling stations in Karachi to conduct local government elections in Karachi on January 15, 2023.

While attending a top-level meeting on the law and order situation, Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, was briefed by officials that another 2,833 police personnel with 564 mobile vans would remain on standby as part of a quick response force to immediately respond to any eventuality on polling day.

Personnel of Sindh Rangers will also remain available as a backup force to support the civil administration and police to maintain law and order in the provincial capital on the polling day.

Sindh Chief Secretary, Dr Sohail Rajput, said that out of 4,995 polling stations 1,675 had been declared most sensitive from the security point of view. He said that closed-circuit television cameras would be installed in these polling stations for ensuring their electronic surveillance.

He said the Sindh government would take all steps required as per the directives of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to ensure smooth conduct of the polling in the city.

He asked Karachi’s Commissioner to ensure that all basic facilities were available at the polling stations to facilitate the election staff and voters especially the differently abled persons who will come to cast their votes.

The ECP is going to engage the services of over 66,000 employees of different government departments as polling staff on election day.

The local government polls in Karachi were deferred on several occasions since July last year as the provincial government couldn’t ensure the availability of the police personnel in the requisite numbers for the peaceful conduct of the elections as they were busy in the province performing flood-related emergency duties.

Different contesting political parties including Pakistan People’s Party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, and Jamaat-e-Islami, are holding rallies and public meetings to end their campaign to contest the polls in Karachi. These contesting parties are keen to grab the coveted position of Karachi’s next mayor after winning the polls.