Islamabad: Polls in Pakistan opened on October 10 morning to elect the National Assembly and four provincial Assemblies in the first general elections of the country since President Pervez Musharraf grabbed power in a bloodless coup in 1999.

Polling began all over the country at 08:30 hours (IST) and would close at 19:30 hours (IST). Counting of the ballots would start on October 10 night, officials said.

Over 40,000 security officials have been deployed to prevent any violence, they said.

Over 72 million voters were expected to cast their vote to elect 272 members of the National Assembly. After the polls 60 reserved seats for women and 10 for non-Muslim members would be allotted to political parties based on the percentage of their votes, taking the total number of members in the National Assembly to 342.

Besides the National Assembly, voting is taking place for the provincial Assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, North West Frontier Province, (NWFP) and Baluchistan.

Elections for the 100-member Upper House, Senate, would be held on November 12.

Over 200 foreign observers, including large delegations from European Union and Commonwealth have been permitted to monitor the polls.

In an address to the nation on October 9 night, Musharraf promised to hold free and fair polls and said he would handover his executive powers to the elected Prime Minister to govern the country while he would continue as President.

PTI