ISLAMABAD: Slightly above half of almost one million electoral staff have only completed their preparatory training for the general polls whereas the remaining personnel are yet to complete this training initiated by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in November last year, it emerged on Thursday.
Of the total electoral staff comprising of 985,413 personnel, some 579,191 officials have completed their training whereas 406,222 personnel are yet to complete their trainings, according to the data issued by the ECP.
The training programme started in the last week of November, to be completed on February 1, the ECP said.
The electoral staff comprises of district returning officers, returning officers, presiding officers, assistant presiding officers and related staff, the poll entity said.
The ECP, in a statement, admitted, without specifying any number, that certain personnel skipped the electoral training and remained absent and that appropriate action was being taken against them.
However, the statement failed to mention the details of action taken against the officials who skipped the training, and the exact number of such officials.
Last week, the electoral body, in a press release, admitted having faced difficulties in the transmission of relevant information to the ROs through the Election Management System (EMS), being used for upcoming general polls, in the far-flung areas but insisted that the said system did not fail.
Amidst the reports suggesting a complete failure of the ECP’s much-hyped EMS, the poll entity said, some additional functions were added to the EMS to assist the ROs.
“However, in the far-flung areas where the problems related to internet connectivity have been experienced, slight difficulties have been faced there in the transmission of the lists of the general polls’ contestants to the ROs by the ECP, provincial, regional and district election commissioners,” the electoral organisation said in the press release.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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