Election expenses may exceed Rs49 billion

The Election Fee of Pakistan (ECP) has estimated that its expenditure for the overall elections 2024 will exceed Rs49 billion primarily due to extra bills to be incurred on offering foolproof safety on the polling stations.

The ECP will set up 92,500 polling stations throughout the nation for the voting on February 8, 2024. These polling stations have been categorised into A, B, and C teams, decided by their sensitivity ranges, official sources mentioned.

The ECP has categorised over 17,500 polling stations as extremely delicate, and 32,508 as delicate, whereas the remaining 42,500 as regular. The extremely delicate polling stations have been designated primarily due to considerations over potential unrest.

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Among the many extremely delicate polling stations, 6,599 are in Punjab and 4,430 in Sindh – which might be monitored by CCTV cameras – 2,038 in Balochistan and 4,344 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (Ok-P). Among the many delicate polling stations, 15,829 are in Punjab, 8,030 in Sindh, 2,068 in Balochistan, and 6,000 in Ok-P.

The ECP demanded Rs47 billion of the federal authorities for the overall election, which is being supplied to it in a phased method. Nonetheless, the bills are more likely to exceed Rs49 billion attributable to improve in bills on transportation and different security-related preparations.

In view of the safety considerations and the border state of affairs, the police, rangers, military and different law-enforcement companies have demanded one other Rs3.5 billion of their bills. In accordance with sources, solely the Punjab police have demanded Rs1.19 billion for the overall duties.

(WITH INPUT FROM APP)