Election Archives — Page 14 of 49

PESHAWAR: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Additional Secretary Zafar Iqbal on Wednesday said that in the next general elections, the voters will cast their votes in the constituency of which he/she has given the address on CNIC. Addressing a media workshop here, he said that ECP is introducing electoral reforms while keeping in view the past experiences, adding that except the government officers, all the voters would cast their votes in their own constituency. He said that the ECP remained fully engaged in the meeting of the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms and floated various suggestions to ensure transparent elections in future. The ECP official further stated that after thorough deliberations, the Elections Act, 2017 was approved and now the ECP would draft rules under this act. Zafar Iqbal informed that under the act, all the officials to be deployed on election duty would take an oath to ensure transparent casting of votes, adding that the provincial election commissioners would take oath from all district returning officers, while district election officers would take oath from returning officers. He also said that under the act, a formula has been drafted for printing of ballot papers and the returning officers would seal the record of tempering in the election in an evidence bag to keep it preserved for future investigation. On the occasion, Director General Muhammad Yousaf Khattak briefed the media about the new Election Act, 2017 and said that if the vote count remains less than 10 per cent in any constituency, ECP would declare the election results null and void for that constituency. He further said that the data of voter lists was now shifted to ECP from NADRA, and as per the data, the overall vote bank would be over 100 million. He also said that any candidate or his agent can obtain a copy of voters’ list from ECP through a formal application. He added that after May 1, 2018, the previous voters’ list would stand cancelled and the sitting assemblies would complete the terms by June 1, 2018. MIS Director Haider Ali said that use of technology in Peshawar NA-4 by-poll proved very helpful in finalising the election results. Gender Affairs Additional Director General Nighat Siddiqui told the participants of workshop that ECP was taking steps to ensure participation of all segments of society, adding that district voters’ education committees had been activated at the district level. She hoped an increase in the turnout of voters in the next general elections and said that as per the ECP data, women voting percentage was less in 79 constituencies of the country, where the commission has decided to arrange mobile vans with the collaboration of NADRA for registration of votes of women. The ECP Spokesman Haroon Shinwari said that ECP is fully ready for general elections at any time. He added that since the population census had been completed, therefore delimitations have become imperative now. To a question, the additional secretary told media that the estimated cost for the conduct of elections had also increased. He added that the ECP is going to celebrate National Voters Day on December 7, where awareness and sensitisation would be created among media, civil society and the general public.

ISLAMABAD: The centre and the provinces on Monday reached a consensus on the need to enact legislation on delimitation of constituencies in the light of the latest census results, “averting a looming constitutional crisis”, according to the Prime Minister Office. The development came at a meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI), chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. Four chief ministers, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal and other senior officials also showed up at the huddle. The interior minister attended the meeting in place of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar who is in London for “medical treatment”. “This is the victory of democracy,” PM’s spokesman Dr Mussadik Malik told the media, adding, “A looming constitutional crisis has been averted.” He said the CCI had given approval for carrying out legislation on delimitation of constituencies in the light of the provisional results of the population census 2017, and the final results would be issued later. The spokesman cited Article 51(5) to state that legislation on delimitation of constituencies is to be done after the last census results are officially published. “The seats in the National Assembly shall be allocated to each province, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the federal capital on the basis of the population in accordance with the last preceding census officially published,” the said article reads. Sindh chief minister expresses reservations on census results The results of the population census were last published in 1998 when the headcount exercise was conducted. To have the results of the census 2017 published, the federal government had contacted the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) which informed the government that the census results could be published not before the mid or end of April next year, according to Malik. After the publication of the results, further official procedures would require at least five months (from April onwards) before the detailed census results could be issued, he said. “We don’t have that much time to wait for the publication of the census results in order to carry out legislation on the constituencies’ delimitation given that the tenure of the present national and provincial governments ends on June 5, 2018. To tackle this situation, the CCI has decided to carry out legislation on the provisional results of the census,” the PM’s spokesman said. He praised the role of the provincial governments in agreeing on the need to carry out the required legislation. “All the provincial governments show maturity and decide to support the federal government on this issue in the best national interests.” Asked whether Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak stuck to his party’s demand for early elections during the CCI meeting, Malik said: ‘No such discussion whatsoever is held. The issue is not even mentioned in the meeting.” CCI set to discuss delimitation law on November 13 Earlier, during the CCI meeting, PM Abbasi “personally” assured the chief ministers of Sindh and K-P to allay their reservations regarding the census results and “other matters”, The Express Tribune has learnt. Reportedly, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah informed the prime minister that a significant chunk of population in Sindh, comprising voters of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), was not covered in the census. In addition, Shah is said to have raised the issue of delay in the release of development funds to PPP MNAs from Sindh which was brewing problems for the party ahead of the general elections. “The K-P chief minister takes up the issue of Rs36 billion payable to the province by the centre under different heads,” insiders said. During the last CCI meeting, the prime minister assured the K-P chief minister that the funds issue would be resolved soon with the release of pending funds to the province, which did not happen. “In addition, Khattak also sought Abbasi’s support on the proposed merger of Fata with K-P which would necessitate creation of 23 additional seats in the K-P Assembly from Fata,” officials said. This requires related legislation by the provincial assembly and parliament. Delimitation bill: Abbasi tasked with wooing opposition “PM Abbasi assured the two chief ministers of his complete support on the given issues before the two decided to support the federal government’s proposed legislation on the delimitation,” sources said. The other two chief ministers – Shehbaz Sharif of Punjab and Sanaullah Zehri of Balochistan – are from the ruling party and have already supported the proposed legislation. It requires a two-thirds majority in parliament to pass the related bill which would be moved in the National Assembly soon. Speaker Ayaz Sadiq has called a meeting of the parliamentary leaders in the National Assembly on Wednesday to discuss the proposed legislation. Meanwhile, the PM’s spokesman said the prime minister and the army chief recently visited forward areas where the premier announced Rs2 billion for troops deployed along the Line of Control (LoC) and Rs1.8 to Rs2 billion for civilian victims of Indian aggression. “The prime minister has allocated Rs1 million each for the family of every martyr,” he said. About the ongoing protests by a religious group against an earlier change in the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat clause in the Election Bill, 2017, in some parts of twin cities causing inconvenience to residents, Malik said: “The government is dealing with the issue, and it will be resolved in a few days.” He, however, avoided sharing the specifics in this regard.
Newspaper: Express Tribune
Newspaper Link: https://tribune.com.pk/story/1557440/

ISLAMABAD: Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) has expressed its concern over delay in constitution of Balochistan Provincial Finance Commission (PFC). Seven years since new local government law was passed and Balochistan still doesn’t have a PFC award. Expressing CPDI’s point of view through a press statement Amer Ejaz, Executive Director at CPDI said that the process of devolution is incomplete without a formula to share the financial divisible pool among administrative units i.e. the districts. Recent unanimous resolution by Balochistan Provincial Assembly for establishment of the PFC is a positive step in the right direction; now government must fulfill its responsibility. He further stated that new PFC award in Balochistan is long awaited as the last award was announced for the period of 2006-09. Section 120 of the Balochistan Local Government Act talks about formation of a PFC that would determine vertical and horizontal financial sharing formula between the province and local councils as well as among the districts; this legislation was promulgated in 2010. CPDI has urged the provincial government to move swiftly towards establishment of PFC, the constitution of which is already determined in the law. While referring to the provision under article 140-A of the constitution of Pakistan he stated that the idea of Provincial Finance Commission was vital for devolution of “financial responsibility and authority to elected representatives of local governments”. At the end Amer Ejaz expressed the hope that the Balochistan provincial government would move fast on constitution of the PFC and would strengthen the local government system by giving them more liberty on use of their financial share in the provincial divisible pool.
Newspaper: The Balochistan Point
Newspaper Link: http://thebalochistanpoint.com/cpdi-expresses-its-concern-over-delay-in-constitution-of-balochistan-pfc/

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday said that as many as 42 parliamentarians have still not submitted their statements of assets and liabilities with the commission. An official of ECP said that till submission of statements of assets and liabilities, the membership of these parliamentarians will remain suspended. He said that the suspended parliamentarians included four members of National Assembly, 13 members of Punjab Assembly, 23 members of Sindh Assembly and two members of Balochistan Assembly. He added that all members of the Upper House of the Parliament and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly have submitted their assets statements with the ECP. The official said that the commission has restored the membership of those senators, MNAs and members of four provincial assemblies who have submitted their yearly statements of assets and liabilities of their own, spouses and dependents. He also said that earlier, the ECP had ceased the membership of these parliamentarians for failing to submit these statements. He said that presently there were a total of 1,174 parliamentarians, which included 104 senators, 342 members of National Assembly, 371 members of Punjab Assembly, 168 members of Sindh Assembly, 124 members of KP Assembly and 65 members of Balochistan Assembly. He also said that still, eight seats were lying vacant in Senate, National and provincial assemblies. He said that submitting these statements was a mandatory requirement under Section 42A of the Representation of the People Act, 1976 and Section 25A of the Senate (Election) Act, 1975 and those parliamentarians who fail to submit yearly statements of assets and liabilities would be suspended from their respective seats.
Newspaper: Pakistan-Today
Newspaper Link: https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2017/11/07/42-parliamentarians-yet-to-submit-assets-and-liabilities-statements-ecp/

ISLAMABAD: Deadlock between the government and opposition on a constitutional bill for delimitation of constituencies continued on Tuesday but there was a general consensus that the general elections should be held on time next year. Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq chaired the meeting at the Parliament House here. The major opposition parties stuck to their position of approval of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) prior to paving way for amending the Constitution, while the government took the position that the CCI approval was not needed to amend the Constitution. Following the deadlock, it was decided to hold another round to reach consensus on the issue. Major opposition parties — Pakistan People’s party and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf — were on the same page wanting the CCI nod for fresh delimitation of constituencies but the government disagreed pleading that there was no need for it. After the meeting, the government and opposition blamed each other for the deadlock. Talking to the newsmen after the meeting, Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said efforts were made to remove the reservations of the opposition. “The parliamentary leaders would now discuss the matter with their party heads and meet again on Wednesday (today) after receiving directions,” he said. He said all the parties had consensus on holding the general elections on time. PPP parliamentary leader Naveed Qamar said his party still stood by its demand of getting the Constitutional Amendment Bill approved by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) before bringing it to the assembly. He said an impression was given to them that the government will take the issue to the CCI but in fact did not want to do so. He said the government had prorogued the National Assembly session to block the bill passed by the Senate that barred a disqualified person to head the political party. PTI deputy parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the PTI wanted continuation of democracy and elections on time. He said PTI Chairman Imran Khan had demanded early elections on the premise that the government was dysfunctional. He said the demand for early elections was not unconstitutional or undemocratic. Qureshi said a question was raised in the meeting about the sudden prorogation of National Assembly session and the speaker responded that the government had prorogued it. He claimed that a faction in the government did not want confrontation and had a separate stance on disqualification of Nawaz Sharif. Qaumi Watan Party chief Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said deadlock still persisted, as the PPP and PTI stuck to their position of getting the CCI nod for constitutional amendment. He asked why the Sindh government had not filed a requisition to summon the CCI meeting. Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said the government had prorogued the National Assembly session to avoid discussion on the Senate bill that barred a disqualified person to head a political party. He said as many as 11 seats of Punjab had reduced in the fresh delimitation, and if all the districts were added then the number of seats would be around 33. “The treasury benches were not supporting the government on this issue, as they knew that their constituencies will be affected,” he claimed. MQM-P parliamentary leader Dr. Farooq Sattar told newsmen that the MQM-P had made it clear in the meeting that his party will not accept the census results. “If we have reservations about the census, how can we accept its provisional results,” he questioned. He warned the government alone will be responsible if elections get delayed. However, he said he had proposed delimitation on the basis of number of voters instead of population figures. He said if the Election Commission of Pakistan went to the Supreme Court on the issue then it will not be a good sign for Parliament. Dr Farooq Sattar held the PML-N and PPP responsible for the current situation. Meanwhile, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhary urged all political parties to forge consensus on delimitation of constituencies. Talking to newsmen in Islamabad, he regretted that the PPP and PTI were creating hurdles in the way of delimitation, which was a constitutional requirement.
Newspaper: The News
Newspaper Link: https://pakvoter.org/content/deadlock-persists-delimitation-constituencies

ISLAMABAD: Despite an understanding among all the parties, the National Assembly on Thursday failed to pass a crucial constitutional amendment bill seeking reallocation of seats of the national and provincial assemblies and fresh delimitation of constituencies on the basis of provisional census results. Though the apparent reason for the failure was lack of numbers as a constitutional amendment requires a vote by two-thirds of members (228 in the 342-member house), the last-minute objections raised by the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) over the draft indicated that the passage of the already-delayed bill might face some hindrances. Soon after the introduction of the bill by Law Minister Zahid Hamid, PPP’s parliamentary leader Naveed Qamar alleged that the government had played a trick on them by telling them that the bill was being moved in the light of the decision of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) whereas Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had stated earlier in the day that no such decision had been made by the CCI in any of its meetings. PPP, MQM raise last-minute objections Mr Qamar even declared the proposed bill as “unconstitutional”. He, however, did not specifically announce if his party was going to backtrack from its earlier commitment of supporting the bill in parliament as per the “consensus decision” taken by the parliamentary leaders of all the parties in the two-day meeting under Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on the issue. Advertisement The PPP took this ambiguous stance over the issue a day after the party took a U-turn on across-the-board accountability while discussing another bill seeking to amend the controversial accountability laws. Similarly, parliamentary leader of the MQM Dr Farooq Sattar criticised the government’s move to introduce the bill without first taking any step to remove the concerns of Sindh province. He said that the MQM had serious concerns over the census results. He called for delimitation on the basis of number of voters, instead of the population in the constituencies. He said if the formula was genuinely applied Karachi would get one additional seat in the NA. He said that his party had already launched a movement to mobilise people over the census issue. Dr Sattar said that he understood the urgency of the issue as no one wanted to see elections getting delayed, but the burden of nine-year delay in conducting the census should not be put on the present parliament. He said that his party would move an amendment to the bill. Responding to the objections raised by the two opposition members, Law Minister Zahid Hamid claimed that Mr Qamar had not raised the CCI issue in any of the two meetings of the parliamentary leaders and, therefore, raising objections at this stage was uncalled-for. At this point, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai took the floor and lashed out at the two opposition parties for, what he called, backtracking from their earlier commitments. He said the bill had been included in the agenda of the house in the light of the consensus that had been reached during the meeting of the parliamentary leaders. “If someone has received directives from the party leadership to create trouble, then he should admit it and say sorry (for it),” Mr Achakzai said. He said Dr Farooq Sattar had also raised the same objections in the meeting, but at the end all the parties had agreed to carry out the amendment in the Constitution. He said the decision was announced by the speaker in the presence of the journalists. “If you have any compulsion then have the guts and say that I was present in the meeting and I had agreed to it but now I have received directives [to change the stance],” he said. Dr Shireen Mazari of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) said that her party had agreed to support the bill because it did not want to see any delay in the next general elections. She, however, asked the government to remove the concerns of other parties. When the members were still discussing the issue, independent MNA from Muzaffargarh Jamshed Dasti pointed out lack of quorum, forcing Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi to adjourn the session till Friday morning. Opposition protest Before the introduction of the bill, the opposition members lodged a strong protest over the government’s recent decision to increase prices of petroleum products. Opposition Leader Syed Khursheed Shah severely criticised the decision and alleged that the government had bent upon collecting easy money by directly taxing the masses after its failure to recover taxes. Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal defended the government’s decision and claimed that no new tax had been introduced by the PML-N government. PTI’s Shah Mehmood Qureshi, MQM’s Farooq Sattar and Tariqullah of the Jamaat-i-Islami also criticised the government’s decision of increasing oil prices. Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2017
Newspaper: The news
Newspaper Link: https://www.dawn.com/news/1368090

ISLAMABAD: A special parliamentary committee has approved a draft bill regarding delimitation of constituencies and decided to introduce it in the National Assembly on Thursday. This was stated by National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq after a meeting of the committee held at Parliament House on Wednesday. The committee had on Tuesday reached a consensus that the number of seats in the National Assembly would remain 272, but fresh delimitation of constituencies would be carried out before the next general elections in the light of the census. Speaker hopes proposed law will be passed by NA, Senate smoothly The speaker expressed the hope that the bill would be passed by the National Assembly and the Senate smoothly. Advertisement Delimitation of constituencies of the national and provincial assemblies is mandatory under the fresh census and the government has decided that it would keep the present 272 seats intact in the National Assembly. A constitutional amendment is required with a two-thirds majority for delimitation of constituencies. Officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), Statics Division and law ministry attended the meeting. The meeting was also attended by Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah and Naveed Qamar of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Law Minister Zahid Hamid, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Aftab Sheikh, Minister for Housing Akram Durrani, Shah Mehmood Qureshi of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour of the Awami National Party, Dr Farooq Sattar of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Sahibzada Tariqullah of the Jamaat-i-Islami and Mehmood Khan Achakzai of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party. During the meeting, minute details of the 2017 census were presented before the members and census record of even tehsils’ level was shared. The issue of delimitation of constituencies and increase in the number of seats was referred to the National Assembly by the federal cabinet in its meeting on Oct 25. Under laws, the ECP is empowered to carry out delimitation of constituencies of the national and provincial assemblies as well as local bodies. A fresh legislation is required to allow the ECP to do so on the basis of the census results. In August, the Council of Common Interests had approved provisional results of the sixth census that put the country’s population at 207.77 million with an annual growth rate of 2.4 per cent. Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2017

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate, Arbab Amir Ayub, emerged victorious as the by-election on constituency NA-4 was held peacefully amid unprecedented security measures on Thursday. As per the unofficial results of 269 polling stations circulated by the provincial chapter of the Election Commission through newly-introduced Result Transmission System (RTS), PTI’s Arbab Amir Ayub obtained 47,586 votes, leading the PML-N candidate Nasir Khan Musazai with a margin of 22,319 votes. Nasir Khan Musazai of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) bagged 25,267 votes to stand second. He was closely followed by Khushdil Khan of the Awami National Party (ANP) with 25,143 votes. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate, Asad Gulzar Khan, son of the late Gulzar Khan, obtained 12,802 votes, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan’s Allama Dr Muhammad Shafiq Ameeni got 9,470 votes, Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) Wasil Farooq Jan obtained 7,409 votes. Eight independent candidates, including Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) supported candidate Alhaj Liaqat Ali Khan, obtained 3,679 votes, Muhamma Tanveer got 348 votes, Maulana Waheed Alam bagged 284 votes, Ziaur Rehman got 192 votes, Amanullah Khan Afridi got 160 votes, Doctor Mubashir Khan 181 votes, Samiullah got 149 and Farhan Qadir received 80 votes. It was notable that the votes of the PTI decreased in the by-election as compared to general elections, while the votes of the PML-N candidate increased. In the 2013 general elections, the PTI candidate had secured 55,134 votes, the PML-N’s Nasir Khan Musazi had obtained 20,412 votes, and the JUI-F’s candidate Arbab Kamal had secured 12,519 votes. The seat had fallen vacant owing to the death of the PTI’s dissident MNA Gulzar Khan. The PTI Chairman Imran Khan, in his twitter message, congratulated the PTI candidate for winning the by-election with a huge margin. He said the PTI victory on huge margin proved people’s confidence in the PTI. He termed the party’s candidate’s victory as a win against the united opposition force in the province. The experiment to use RTS remained successful in the by-poll as results of polling stations were quickly received through the SMS system from presiding officers. Sohail Ahmad, Public Relations Officer, Provincial Election Commission, told The News that the presiding officers have quickly updated the results through the RTS. Under this system, he said, the presiding officers enter result into the application along with the picture of Form XIV by using specialised mobile application, which is transmitted to the ECP server. Electronic voting machines (EVMs) were also tested in the by-poll. According to the Election Commission, 100 polling booths used the EVMs alongside the manual voting process successfully. The by-election remained peaceful under strict security arrangements as apart from police, military and paramilitary forces were deployed in the polling stations. One incident of polling of fake votes was reported early in the morning by a police constable, who was deployed for security at a polling station. The police department immediately held an inquiry into the matter through Chief Capital Police Officer Tahir Khan and he submitted report to the IG Police. In the inquiry report, it was revealed that the incident of polling of fake votes by a police constable was baseless. It was stated that the police constable belonged to other district and was helping an aged man, 77, in casting his vote after he was requested by him. The total number of registered voters of this constituency was 397,904. Some 269 polling stations were set up to facilitate the voters. To ensure foolproof security, more than 7,000 police personnel, along with army troops, were deployed outside polling stations. The process of polling started at 8:00am and lasted till 5:00pm. Voter turnout was low.
Newspaper: The News
Newspaper Link: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/240044

PESHAWAR: The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf retained its National Assembly seat, NA-4, Peshawar IV, in Thursday’s by-elections as its candidate, Arbab Amir Ayub, defeated rivals by a big margin. At the time of the filing of this report, the unofficial election results from 227 of the total of 269 polling stations compiled by the Election Commission of Pakistan through the new Result Transmission System (RTS) showed that Arbab Amir bagged 39,196 votes, Awami National Party’s Khushdil Khan 21,344 votes and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Nasir Khan Musazai 21,182. The seat had fallen vacant in August after the death of dissident PTI MNA Gulzar Khan, who had won it in the 2013 general elections by receiving 55,134 votes. The PML-N candidate was supported by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, whose candidate had obtained 12,519 votes in the 2013 elections. Polling remains peaceful amid tight security The performance of Pakistan People’s Party candidate Asad Gulzar and Jamaat-i-Islami’s Wasil Farooq Jan was dismal as the former secured fourth position and the latter sixth in terms of votes obtained. Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan candidate Allama Dr Mohammad Shafique Ameeni, a new entrant to the electoral arena, fared better than JI’s candidate. Overall, the polling was held in a peaceful environment as around 15 personnel of the Pakistan Army and police were deployed on every polling station. The police and army men were also deployed on rooftops and surroundings of polling stations. Despite the massive door-to-door campaign by political parties, most polling stations didn’t see long queues of voters. The polling process remained smooth and peaceful by and large, as the security forces didn’t allow the irrelevant people to enter the premises of polling stations. The voters were barred from carrying cellphones into polling stations. Many of them showed reluctance in handing cellphones over to other voters. For the first time in the country’s history, the ECP introduced the Result Transmission System for the quick dissemination of election results from polling stations by the presiding officer to the district returning officer. Though the district administration had announced a public holiday in the constituency for the day, many daily wagers didn’t exercise their right of franchise for being busy with their routine work. According to the polling staff members, the turnout was badly affected by the non-participation of labourers. They said only five to 10 percent of voters in the constituency were government employees. In some areas, the people’s votes were registered in polling stations away from their houses despite the presence of polling stations close to their localities. All political parties had arranged vehicles to take voters to polling stations from their houses and drop them off back violating the code of conduct made by the Election Commission of Pakistan. Vehicles were seen with hoisting the flags and posters of parties while carrying voters to polling stations. For the first time in the country’s history, the ECP conducted the pilot testing of the electronic voting machines in 100 polling booths, where demonstration of electronic voting was exercised. Each vote cast through the EVM took 20 seconds. A presiding officer at the Hazarkhwani polling station said the use of EVMs in the next general elections would save the government’s money and the voters’ time. “The government spends billions of rupees on the payment of honoraria to the polling staff in each election in the country, which will be saved after the introduction of EVMs,” he said. The presiding officer said there would be no manual counting at the end of the polling time and instead, the electronic election results would be declared within seconds. A total of 397,952 voters exercise their right of franchise in the by-polls. Among them were 235,127 men and 162,825 women. The ECP had established 269 polling stations having 837 polling booths for the polling. Meanwhile, the Coalition for Elections and Democracy observers, in its preliminary report, said the campaign material and campaign activity was seen outside majority of the NA-4 polling stations implying that the ECP’s code of conduct was not followed. It sad at 25 percent sampled polling stations, voters were seen to be transported and ‘voter parchi’ was also distributed. The observers also said the presence of campaign material and party camps within the restricted 400 yards of the polling stations was noticed at 62 percent polling stations. They said it recorded a total of 119 violations of the election code of conduct and that wall chalking and a large size of banners and posters were the most common. The observers said the wall chalking was observed in favour of independent candidate supported by the Milli Muslim League, PTI and PPP in the areas of Hassan Khattak, Shageeabad, Yousafabad, Telaband, Sheikhan, Mushtazai, Shaikh Mohammadi, Sulemankhel, Mashogagar, Badabhera, Maryamzai and Sherkera. Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2017
Newspaper: The News
Newspaper Link: https://www.dawn.com/news/1366571

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