Pakistan: COVID-19 protocols violated during Cantonment board polls

Standing operating procedures (SOPs) against the COVID-19 were violated during the Cantonment board elections held in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday.

Standing operating procedures (SOPs) against the COVID-19 were violated during the Cantonment board elections held in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday. Elections were held in nine cantonments of seven districts in the province.

COVID-19 protocols were violated during the elections, especially outside the polling stations where people were seen not wearing masks, reported Dawn. Supporters gathered outside the polling stations, assembling at the elections camps without observing social distancing.

Sanitisers at the election camps were not used at all. A police constable informed that a person was specially deployed with a thermal gun to check the temperature, outside the main gate of Government Higher Secondary School No.2 Peshawar Cant where a polling station was established for ward-2.

Nonetheless, the person was removed within two hours of being deployed, as the candidates raised objections over him, reported Dawn. Also, in most cases, the chief executive officers of the same cantonment board were appointed as the returning officers for the elections.

Elections were held in cantonments of Peshawar, Mardan, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, Nowshera, Abbottabad, Havelian and Murree Galis. Pakistan's ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf bagged 16 seats out of 33 seats and emerged as the largest party in the cantonment board polls. (ANI)

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