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Pakistan vote under way

18 February 2008 10:26 (UTC +04:00)

Polling for 268 seats of the National Assembly and 570 seats of the provincial assemblies kicked off at 8 a.m. local time in the morning, which will continue till 5 p.m. local time.
Major parties of Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Muslim League (Q) are among 47 parties taking part in the elections. The election commission has for the first time provided transparent ballot boxes and voter screens to make the polling process more transparent and fair.
The electoral rolls and the location of the polling stations have been posted on the Website of the Election Commission for the greater benefit of the candidates and the voters.
About 64,000 polling stations have been set up across the country and over 570,000 polling staff will supervise the conduct of the polling. Tight security is in place across the country, Pakistanâ€™s Dawn TV reported.
Around 81,000 troops and around 400,000 policemen as well as paramilitary forces have been deployed across the country, the Dawn TV said, adding that however, there have been minor incidents of violence in parts of the country before and after the polling started on Monday morning.
Some unknown armed men snatched ballots from eight places in east Karachiâ€™s Badin region, Dawn TV said.
Besides, an explosion blasted in Bajaur Agency, a tribal area on the Afghan border, but no casualties have been reported.
Recent bomb blasts and suicide attacks have prompted the unprecedented security measures at thousands of sensitive areas especially in the tribal regions and parts of North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
President Pervez Musharraf said that "shoot-at-sight" order has been issued for those who will resort to killings and violence on the polling day.ã€€