Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) has launched a series of special programmes, “Elections City 2024”, in connection with the forthcoming general elections 2024. The first special programme, jointly produced by the News and Current Affairs Channel and Programme Wing, was broadcast live at News and Current Affairs Channel from Islamabad, said a press release issued on Thursday.
Speaking in the programme, Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Solangi said that Radio Pakistan had a long history of providing timely and accurate information to the masses. Appreciating the historical role of Radio Pakistan during all the previous and forthcoming general elections, he expressed the hope that all regional and local stations would also follow the National Hook-up Programme and plan their transmission accordingly. Director General Elections, Election Commission of Pakistan, Syed Nadeem Haider said conducting elections was a massive exercise in which about one million election staff would be deputed. About 92,000 polling stations would be set up across the country, while a special security plan would be chalked out for around 47,000 sensitive and extremely sensitive polling stations to ensure law and order, he added.
He said the Election Monitoring and Complaint Cell had also been established which would monitor the election process round the clock. Lauding the role of Radio Pakistan, the ECP DG Elections said it had an edge over other mediums of communication due to its access to the far flung areas of the country. He also appealed to the political parties to extend cooperation to the ECP in conducting peaceful, free, fair and transparent elections. ECP Spokesperson Haroon Shinwari, in his remarks, said registered voters could check their vote and polling station by sending their CNIC number via SMS to 8300. Radio Pakistan is broadcasting the “Elections City 2024” from News and Current Affairs Channel daily at 4:05 p.m. Meanwhile, PBC Director General Saeed Ahmed Sheikh, in a special broadcast regarding the election, said Radio Pakistan would fulfill its national responsibility and provide all the verified information to the people in time.
