KABUL): The Ministry of Interior on Wednesday said 259 polling centres marked as insecure would have little impact on the entire election process.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) provided a list of 7,000 polling stations to security organs about six months ago to chalk out security plans for the sites.
The MoI last week said it had prepared a comprehensive security plan for 6,845 polling centers and shared the same with the IEC.
But the IEC is still concerned about security for 159 polling centres, saying security for these sites is yet to be assured.
IEC Secretary Ziaul Haq Amarkhel on Wednesday told Pajhwok Afghan News security organs, after spending five months on assessing the situation, had told them insurgents were in control of areas where the polling centres were located.
He said these centres were in Kunar, Nuristan, Kapisa, Maidan Wardak, Parwan, Sar-i-Pul, Zabul, Badakhshan, Helmand, Ghazni, Herat and Farah provinces.
He asked security departments to make efforts at maintaining security for the remaining 259 polling centres.
“The elections are very important, no one should be deprived of their right to vote on the pretext of insecurity and if relevant organs could not maintain security perennially, they should do it at least for a couple of weeks” Amarkhel said.
The MoI admits 259 polling centres remain under threat, but insists it does not mean the centers would be insecure throughout the remaining eight months to go for elections.
MoI spokesman Ghulam Siddiqui Siddique said the eight-month gap was an opportunity for security organs to come up with proper steps for maintaining security.
“The polling centres under threat are very less in number compared to the total 7000 the IEC has shared with the MoI. The problem will have no effect on the entire election process,” he believed.
He said no one should worry about election security because the strength of Afghan police had increased to 157,000 and Afghan Local Police had been raised in various regions.
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