ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has finally decided to deploy army in five constituencies of Punjab where by-polls will be held on October 11 and October 6.

The volatile law and order situation in the country, according to ECP has forced District Returning Officers (DROs) and Returning Officers (ROs) to request the provincial chapter of ECP to request for deployment of Punjab Rangers and Pakistan army to ensure law and order in and outside the polling stations.

Political parties contesting the polls on three national assembly seats and two provincial assembly constituencies have also urged the ECP conduct the election under the security of military keeping in view the police report that has declared majority of polling stations in category of 'most sensitive' areas.

"ECP has sent letters to Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense asking them to issue necessary directions for deployment of sufficient strength of Rangers and army under the intimation of ECP in the mentioned five constituencies," a statement issued by ECP said.

The constituencies where by-polls will be held on October 11 include NA-122 (Lahore-V), NA-144 (Okara-II), NA-154 (Lodhran-I), PP-147 (Lahore-XI). Polls would be held on PP-16 (Attock) on October 6 where rangers would also be deployed. The seat fell vacant after Home Minister Punjab Shujaa Khanzada was assassinated in his hometown.

A chat with ECP officials revealed that the commission until recently was in no  mode to deploy military in the constituencies during polls as the Punjab government and election officers stationed in the province had not dubbed the security situation as alarming.

They said that report by Punjab police and special branch police categorized majority of polling stations as most sensitive that triggered election officers and Provincial Election Commission to request ECP for deploying army during the polls.

A week ago, Secretary ECP Babar Fateh Yaqoob had told journalists that the ECP had not yet received any request from Punjab  government to deploy Rangers or military during the bye-election adding that the law and order situation was not that sensitive in the areas where polls are scheduled to take place on October 11.

 SUBMISSION OF ANNUAL STATAMENTS: In another development, ECP reminded political parties, MNAs, MPAs and Senators to meet the constitutional obligation by submitting statements of their annual assets with ECP till September 30.

Each lawmaker under 42A of Representative of People's Act (ROPA) is required to submit yearly income by September 30 that would be published in official gazette.

So far the ECP has received statements of only 30 Senators out of the total 104-member strength of Senate while only 63 members (MNAs) of National Assembly out of 342 members have furnished the constitutional obligation.

Similarly, the ECP awaits statements of 307 MPAs of Punjab Assembly where only 61 MPAs out of 371 have so far shared their yearly income with ECP. The response from lawmakers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly is lethargic too as only 10 MPAs have submitted their annual statements out of 65 members in the provincial assembly.

As many as 33 MPAs of Sindh Assemblyy out of its 168-member strength and 10 MPAs of Balochistan Assembly out of 65 members house have respectively submitted their annual profits with ECP.

Details revealed that out of the total 1174 lawmakers (Senators, MNAs and MPAs), only 208 legislators have met their constitutional responsibility by sharing their annual statements with ECP so far.