The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has completed printing of 260 million ballot papers for all the constituencies in the country, ECP spokesperson said on Sunday.

Around 2,170 tonnes of a special printing paper was used for the printing, it added in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

During 2018 elections, 220 million ballot papers were printed, using around 800 tonnes of the paper.

As Pakistan heads towards polls, deteriorating law-and-order has grabbed headlines

“The increase in paper use for the upcoming elections is mainly because of increased number of candidates,” ECP spokesperson said.

Nearly 18,000 candidates are set to contest for the national and provincial assemblies in the polls scheduled for February 8.

ECP spokesperson mentioned that the electoral watchdog did face some challenges during the printing process, including increased number of candidates as well as cases filed in court.

As per the election watchdog, total voters in the country are 128,585,760, out of which 69,263,704 are male while 59,322,056 are female voters.

Earlier, the Federal Minister of Information, Broadcasting, and Parliamentary Affairs, Murtaza Solangi, said on Saturday that all arrangements had been finalised for conducting peaceful, fair, free, and transparent elections in Pakistan.

He said that some elements had been spreading rumours in the recent past about the elections, citing the severity of the weather, the law and order situation, or some other issues.

“Full security arrangements have been made at the polling stations, and the government will ensure peaceful and transparent elections on February 8,” Solangi asserted.