ISLAMABAD: While bomb blasts rocked the province of Balochistan killing over 29 people on Wednesday, the caretaker government assured the nation that the general elections will be held under a foolproof security across the country on Thursday.
The Election Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday night directed all the provincial governments to further enhance security for the elections.
Polling for electing members to the national and provincial assemblies will begin at 8am and continue till 5pm. There are a total of 128.58 million registered voters in the country, Radio Pakistan reported.
The government has already announced a public holiday in the country to facilitate the voters to use their right of franchise.
The voters would require to bring their original Computerized National Identity Cards in order to cast the vote. Expired CNICs would also be acceptable.
The voters will elect 265 members of the National Assembly and 590 members of the seats of National Assembly and 590 members of the four provincial assemblies.
According to the ECP, 5121 candidates, including 312 women, are in the race for the National Assembly seats.
Moreover, there are 12695, including 570 women and two transgender persons for the provincial assembly seats in Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakthunkhwa.
Due to security concerns in the wake of repeated attacks on security forces, police and candidates in the provinces of Khyber Pakthunkhwa and Balochistan, the federal government has already approved the deployment of army personnel across the country.
As a security measure, over 277000 army troops have been deployed across the country who will be placed at a standby outside polling stations to meet any emergency situation.
The government has also announced that there would be no interruption in mobile phone and internet services, but in case a request us received from any constituency regarding a terror threat, the services could be blocked for a certain period of time.
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