The other day, we brought you the story of a polling station in North Waziristan where the highest number of women voted in the General Elections 2024. Today’s record comes from South Waziristan, where the largest polling station in terms of registered voters was set up for the 2024 elections.

This polling station was among 53 polling stations across 23 National Assembly constituencies where over 4,000 voters were assigned to vote on February 8, 2024. This number is more than triple the legally prescribed limit of 1,200 voters per polling station.

South Waziristan, bifurcated into upper and lower districts in 2022, has one National Assembly constituency, namely NA-42 South Waziristan Upper-cum-South Waziristan Lower. According to the official Form-28 (Final List of Polling Stations), 276 polling stations were established in the constituency for over 467,000 voters, averaging 1,693 voters per station. However, as many as 11 polling stations in this constituency had more than 4,000 voters each, the highest concentration of such polling stations in any constituency in the country.

Where was this polling station set up?

Among these 11, Polling Station No. 30 had the highest number of voters assigned to any polling station in Pakistan. It was set up at Government Middle School Janat Mir, Kanigurram, and comprised four polling booths. It was a combined polling station, meaning both men and women could vote there.

As many as 7,358 voters were assigned to this polling station, including 3,784 men and 3,574 women. Assigning these many voters, the Returning Officer would have expected each of the four polling booths to handle around 3.8 voters per minute. In reality, the voting process – from verification of voter by the Polling Officer to inserting ballot paper in the ballot box – typically takes about a minute per voter, making such a pace practically impossible.

Luckily, only 630 voters turned out at this polling station on February 8, recording a meagre turnout of 8.5 percent. The overall turnout in the constituency also remained low at 16.6 percent, presumably because of law & order situation in the tribal region.

A bit about Kanigurram

Kanigurram is a valley in Ladha Tehsil of Upper South Waziristan district. Surrounded by Asman Manza and Karwan Manza hills, the valley is inhabited largely by the Burki tribe. According to the ECP’s List of Polling Stations, there are 15 rural census blocks in the Kanigurram area with over 13,000 registered voters, including 53 percent men and 47 percent women. For GE-2024, more than half of these voters (54 percent) were assigned to Polling Station No. 30 while the remaining 46 percent were distributed among four polling stations.

Where are polling stations usually set up?

The law prescribes to reduce the distance between a polling station and voters assigned to it to one kilometer and suggests the following hierarchy for selecting sites for setting up polling station:

  • Polling stations are to be established primarily in government buildings such as schools, healthcare establishments, local offices etc.
  • If appropriate government buildings are unavailable, private educational institutions registered with the concerned authorities may be used as polling sites
  • Where no suitable permanent structure exists, the law allows improvised polling stations.

What does law say about voter to polling station ratio?

Section 59(3) of the Elections Act, 2017 stipulates a maximum ceiling of 1,200 registered voters per polling station, and 300 per polling booth. This is to prevent overcrowding, extended queues, general mismanagement, and the potential disenfranchisement of voters. Reasons for any deviations are to be recorded in writing. However, the publicly available Form-29 of NA-42 issued by the District Returning Officer (DRO) did not mention any reasons for high number of voter assignment at polling stations. – Written by Azhar Ali, FAFEN staff member, with contribution from Sanaullah Khan, FAFEN Long Term Observer in South Waziristan.