Daily Times

Chief Secretary Balochistan Shakeel Qadir Khan on Friday visited the Election Control Room established in the provincial IT Department to inspect the preparedness plan for the upcoming general polls 2024.

Provincial Election Commissioner Muhammad Fareed Afridi, Additional Chief Secretary Home Zahid Saleem, Secretary Local Government Noor Ahmad Perkani, Secretary Finance Babar Khan, and Secretary S&GAD Syed Faisal Ahmed accompanied the chief secretary.

Shakeel Qadir Khan, on the occasion, said conducting free, fair, and transparent elections is the main responsibility of the caretaker provincial government for which it is fully prepared. He directed that “it must be ensured that data regarding the initiation and completion of voting at the polling station must be displayed on the screens of the control room. Besides, he added the location of highly sensitive, sensitive, and normal polling stations of all divisions should also be given on the control room screen. The CS called for devising a concerted strategy for the completion of a contingency plan at the district level for the transportation of ballot papers.

Earlier, CS Balochistan was briefed that the Provincial Control Room and Emergency Control Center have been established in S&IT Department. Special Secretary Home has been appointed as the overall in-charge of the Provincial Control Room. Four Additional Secretaries of the Home Department have been assigned two divisions each in the Control Room Safe City S&IT Department.

It was further informed that Police, Levies, Army, and FC communication wing personnel have been deployed for election security. The purpose of the control room is to monitor the overall security provided for the election process. The control room will liaise with all concerned law enforcement agencies including Police, Levies, FC, and Army.