Election

Around 73% of the polling stations in NA-243, which falls in District East, are inaccessible to persons with disabilities, revealed a survey conducted by the Pakistan Alliance for Inclusive Elections (PAIE), a network of disabled persons’ organisations working in the country.

The NA-243 seat fell vacant after Prime Minister Imran Khan, who had won five NA seats, vacated it.
These numbers are alarming, considering the Election Comission of Pakistan’s (ECP) five-year strategic plan, which was to be implemented before the July 2018 general elections, included polling station accessibility. Pakistan’s largest city will now face the same issue in the upcoming by-elections on October 14.

Civil society organisations have demanded the ECP take immediate steps to make all polling stations accessible to persons with disabilities.

By-elections for 30 vacant seats on October 14

There are a total 216 polling stations in this constituency with 402,731 registered voters, of whom 211,510 are male and 191,221 female. The number of persons with disabilities registered as voters in this constituency is unclear.

The survey results depict that maximum polling stations fail to meet one or more mandatory criteria lacking, water, sanitation, proper ventilation and ramps. “With minor alterations, the issues can be resolved,” the survey found.

Sharing the findings of the survey, Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) Senior Advocacy Officer Fatimah Shah said, “The purpose of this audit was to present reliable data before stakeholders regarding accessibility in elections and to generate debate on the concerns of persons with disabilities.”

This issue becomes more important in the current scenario as the ECP failed to resolve the accessibility problem before the general elections this year and now, the by-elections are approaching with 73% polling stations still inaccessible for persons with disabilities in an urban constituency of Karachi – the economic hub of Pakistan.

CPDI Senior Programme Manager Raja Shoaib Akbar, who has supervised the survey, stated that 30% polling stations did not have a firm and obstacle-free passage leading to the building while 67% buildings did not provide a level access to the entrance of the polling station. He said persons with disabilities cannot go inside these buildings using wheelchairs as they only have stairs and no ramps. Even the ground floor of the buildings is inaccessible.

Moreover, 80% of the polling stations do not have a ramp to facilitate voters on wheelchairs. In 27% of the cases, protruding objects outside the polling stations pose a challenge on the way, Akbar shared.

According to international standards, polling station gates must be wide enough to facilitates voters with disabilities. However, the survey revealed that smaller pedestrian gates pose several problems. Firstly, the gates are not enough wide enough, secondly, the iron bar below the gate is always thicker than the maximum threshold standard of 6mm. Lastly, the threshold of the gates is generally two to three inches above the ground causing another hindrance. The ECP should direct its staff to facilitate persons with disabilities by opening the larger gates as this would ease some of the discomfort.

The survey further revealed that no low slope ramps or other facilities were observed at these buildings for facilitation of persons with disabilities.

Karachi police chief warns officers against hassling couples

Poor lighting posed another impediment for persons with reduced visibility. Also, only 57% of polling stations possessed exterior lighting arrangements, leaving the entrance of 43% sampled polling stations in the dark at the time of closing of the stations and display of results by the presiding officer.

The report suggested that slight changes can make these inaccessible buildings more persons-with-disabilities-friendly, such as construction of small ramps at the entrance and inside the building, leveling of pathways in front of the polling stations and removal of protruding objects from the pathways and interior of the building.
Despite many attempts, contact with the provincial election commissioner could not be established. However, the provincial spokesperson for the election commission said, “It is the job of the returning officer to look into the matter.” The returning officer of NA 243 neither attended his phone nor responded to text messages.

Islamabad: As high as 73% polling stations in NA-243 Karachi east II are inaccessible to Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in one way or other, reveals an accessibility audit conducted by the Pakistan Alliance for Inclusive Elections (PAIE).

The percentage is worrying in many aspects, especially when the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had made accessibility of polling stations part of its five-year strategic plan to be implemented prior to general elections 2018. PAIE has demanded of ECP to take immediate steps towards making all the polling stations accessible for PWDs.

The accessibility audit was conducted on a sample of 30 polling stations of the constituency. Results depict that maximum polling stations fail to meet one or more mandatory criteria but it also endorses that 67% of such buildings could be easily made accessible with little alterations.

Fatimah Shah, Senior Advocacy Officer at Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives, shared that the purpose of the PAIE audit was to present reliable data to stakeholders regarding accessibility in elections and to generate debate on the concerns of PWDs. This issue becomes more important in a scenario where ECP could not resolve accessibility problem before general elections 2018 and now by-elections are approaching with 73% polling stations still inaccessible for PWDs in an urban constituency of Pakistan’s largest city.

Sharing details, Senior Programme Manager at CPDI Raja Shoaib Akbar stated that 30% polling stations did not have a firm and obstacle-free passage leading to the building; 67% buildings did not provide a level access to the entrance of polling station; and 80% of the polling stations not having level access also did not possess a ramp to facilitate wheel chair users in entering the polling station. In 27% cases, protruding objects outside the polling stations pose a challenge on the way, he added.

Although 73% of the entrance gates are wide enough to comply with minimum standard of 32”, but on Election Day pedestrian gates are likely to remain open instead of vehicle gates. Those smaller pedestrian gates possess several problems. ECP should direct its staff to facilitate PWDs by opening the larger gates for them.

The survey further reveals that the interior building and outer entrance of 50% polling stations were not on same level. No low slope ramps or other facilities were observed at these building for facilitation of PWDs. Only 57% of the polling stations possess exterior lighting arrangement, leaving 43% sampled polling stations entrance in dark at the time of closing of polling stations and display of result by the presiding office.

MULTAN: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced schedule for by-election in PP-217 Multan-VII after the disqualification of MPA Salman Naeem.

According to the ECP, aspiring candidates can submit nomination papers from October 19 to 22 and scrutiny of the papers would be completed by October 26. The candidates can files appeals against decisions of returning officer until October 29 before the Election Tribunal.

The appeals would finally be decided until November 1. The RO will display reviewed list of candidates on November 2. The candidates may withdraw from contest until November 3. The electoral symbols would be issued on November 6 and polling will be held on November 28.

ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad will appear before the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs on Wednesday to give a briefing on the alleged failure of the Result Transmission System (RTS) on the election night, an issue that has put a question mark on the transparency and fairness of the July 25 general elections.

The Senate committee, headed by Sassui Palijo of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has invited a number of senior parliamentarians from the government and the opposition, including chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior Rehman Malik, chairman of the house committee on law and justice Javed Abbasi, chairman of the house committee on information Faisal Javed, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Senator Usman Kakar and Moula Bux Chandio of the PPP, to attend the meeting.

The committee is meeting at a time when the National Assembly has already approved constitution of a 30-member bipartisan and bicameral special parliamentary committee on the demand of opposition parties to investigate charges of rigging in the general elections.

The RTS controversy came to the surface when results of the elections were abruptly stopped around midnight after the daylong polling and later ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad appeared on TV screens and informed the perplexed nation that the RTS had “collapsed” and that the ECP was now returning to the traditional and manual method of tabulating the results and, therefore, there could be an inordinate delay in the announcement of the unofficial results.

Lawmakers from govt, opposition invited to briefing

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According to sources, soon after the secretary’s news conference, the senior and top officials of National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), the creators of the RTS mobile app, had protested with the ECP and claimed that the RTS was fully functional and they also provided some documentary evidence to prove their claim.

However, Nadra officials were simply told by ECP officials that they had decided to stop using RTS since it had started “malfunctioning”.

The RTS was developed by Nadra after an agreement with the ECP in February when the commission had expressed the desire to receive the results directly from polling stations as done by newspaper and TV reporters. The system, they said, was only meant for the quick announcement of the results for the media through the ECP and that was why its link was provided to the PTV.

Some Nadra officials allege that perhaps it was the ECP’s own costly Result Management System (RMS), installed at the offices of the returning officers (ROs) for tabulation of the results, that had stopped functioning and the commission had put the blame on Nadra only as a cover-up as the RTS and RMS were independent systems and there was no integration between the two softwares.

On the other hand, a spokesman for the ECP had refuted Nadra’s claim that the RMS had failed on the election night, reiterating the stance that the RTS had crashed.

He alleged that Nadra was making these claims only to hide its own “weaknesses”.

PPP Secretary General Farhatullah Babar had stated that traditionally the polls day manipulation took place in the RO offices at the time of consolidation of results and the RTS had been introduced to reduce the role of the ROs.

“The RTS worked perfectly well on the election day for some hours until someone was scared by prospects of eliminating the role of ROs altogether and decided to discontinue it,” he had alleged, while calling for a “forensic audit” to find answers to a number of questions.

Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to carry out an in-depth post-election review exercise.

In a letter written to Election Commission of Pakistan Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad, the CPDI Executive Director Amer Ejaz highlighted the challenges that ECP faced in pre and post-election phase.

Enter ‘Naya Pakistan’: Elections 2018 and the ‘foreign press’

He also gave suggestions for carrying out the robust and professional in-depth post-election review exercise. The letter says that despite ECP’s best efforts and much better performance compared to past elections, it is an unfortunate fact that serious questions have been raised by certain political parties and other stakeholders about the fairness of pre-election and result consolidation processes.

CPDI believes it would be prudent to take stock of all such questions and the critique, and systematically reflect on the whole process by carrying out an in-depth post-election review exercise.

CPDI suggests involving external experts to carry out this exercise. It is also required to adopt methodology involving feedback and input from all stakeholders including senior election officers, and a sample of polling agents, candidates, presiding officers and other polling staff, returning officers, district election officers, monitoring officers and election observers.

PTI fields candidates for by-elections

CPDI demands that ECP should carry out this exercise as soon as possible, and share its findings with the parliament.

Ejaz further remarked that the post-election review exercise will help ECP to bring further improvements in the legal framework, election procedures and ECP’s management capacity. The exercise will lead ECP to better prepare for any such situation in future. This will also improve commission’s credibility in this sensitive time as opposition is in doubts of it.

ISLAMABAD: Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to carry out an in-depth post-election review exercise.

In a letter written to Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad, Executive Director CPDI Amer Ejaz highlighted the challenges that ECP faced in pre and post-election phase. He also gave suggestions for carrying out the robust and professional in-depth post-election review exercise. The letter says that despite ECP’s best efforts and much better performance compared to past elections, it is an unfortunate fact that serious questions have been raised by certain political parties and other stakeholders about the fairness of pre-election and result consolidation processes.

CPDI believes it would be prudent to take stock of all such questions and the critique and systematically reflect on the whole process by carrying out an in-depth post-election review exercise.

CPDI suggests involving external experts to carry out this exercise. It is also required to adopt methodology involving feedback and input from all stakeholders including senior election officers, and a sample of polling agents, candidates, presiding officers and other polling staff, returning officers, district election officers, monitoring officers and election observers. CPDI demands that ECP should carry out this exercise as soon as possible and share its findings with the Parliament.

Ejaz further remarked that the post-election review exercise will help ECP to bring further improvements in the legal framework, election procedures and ECP’s management capacity. The exercise will lead ECP to better prepare for any such situation in future. This will also improve Commission’s credibility in this sensitive time as opposition is in doubts of it. By carrying out such practices ECP will reflect upon its clear intentions of doing their work honorably and scrupulously.

CPDI expresses the desire that ECP will take this advisement under consideration and take some practical measures regarding this matter. We also acknowledge the concerted efforts made by ECP to conduct general election 2018 on time.

 ISLAMABAD: A total of 380 candidates are in the run in the by-elections for 37 seats of national and provincial assemblies to be held on Oct 14.

According to final lists of candidates issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan, 112 candidates will vie for 11 seats of the National Assembly and 268 for 26 seats of the provincial assemblies.

Most of the seats had been vacated by those elected on more than one seat in the 2018 general elections, including Prime Minister Imran Khan who had won elections from all the five NA constituencies he contested.

Punjab in general and Lahore in particular are set to witness some exciting electoral battles.

Khawaja Saad Rafique of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had lost to Imran Khan in NA-131 (Lahore), but now a close contest is expected between him and Humayun Akhtar Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

Asmi Mehmood of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Rana Umar Shahzad of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) are also among 18 candidates in the run from the constituency.

Most of the seats were vacated by those elected on more than one seats in the July polls

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Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will be PML-N’s candidate from NA-124 (Lahore) where Hamza Shahbaz had defeated PTI’s Nauman Qaiser by more than 65,000 votes. Ghulam Mohiuddin Deewan is PTI’s candidate in the by-election from the constituency. Shahbaz Mehmood Bhatti of the PPP is also in the run.

Ali Gohar Khan of the PML-N, Mohammad Saad Ullah of the PTI  and Shahadat Ali Khan of the PPP will vie for NA-103 (Faisalabad), where polls had been put off following the death of a candidate.

Naseem Ali Shah of the PTI, Zahid Akram Durrani of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and Syeda Yasmin Safdar of the PPP and five independent candidates are in the run from NA-35 (Bannu) where Imran Khan had defeated Akram Khan Durrani with a margin of over 6,000 votes.

The PTI has fielded Alamgir Khan as its candidate from NA-243 (Karachi) where Imran Khan had won in the general elections. Amir Waliud Din of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Hakim Ali of the PPP and Sharafat Ali of the PML-N are among 22 contestants in the constituency.

Moonis Elahi of the PML-Q will contest from NA-69 (Gujrat) on a seat vacated by his father Pervaiz Elahi. The PML-N has fielded Imran Zafar in the constituency.

Chaudhry Saik Hussain of the PML-Q will vie for NA-65 (Chakwal). There are only two other candidates belonging to the TLP and Pakistan Justice and Democratic Party in the run. The PPP and PML-N have not fielded their candidates.

Mansoor Hayat Khan of the PTI and Aqeel Malik of the PML-N will vie for NA-63. The seat was vacated by Ghulam Sarwar Khan of the PTI. Candidates from the PPP and TLP and an independent are also in the run.

The PML-N has fielded Sajjad Khan in NA-60 (Rawalpindi) where elections had been postponed following the disqualification of PML-N’s Haneef Abbasi. Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad’s nephew Sheikh Rashid Shafiq will contest against him on a PTI ticket.

Malik Khurram Ali Khan of the PTI and Malik Sohail Khan of the PML-N will be in an electoral contest in NA-55 (Attock) where PTI’s retired Maj Tahir Sadiq had won in the general elections. The TLP has fielded Syed Faisal Mehmood Shah in the constituency.

Little known Ali Nawaz Awan of the PTI and Waqar Ahmad of the PML-N will run for NA-53 (Islamabad). Imran Khan had defeated Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in general elections from this constituency.

As many as 135 candidates are in the run for 12 Punjab Assembly seats, 52 for nine seats of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, 43 for three seats of the Sindh Assembly and 36 for two seats of the Balochistan Assembly.

 

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday released the final list of candidates competing in the upcoming by-polls to be held on October 14.

By-elections will be held on 11 National Assembly constituencies, which include two in Lahore, two in Rawalpindi and one each in Karachi, Islamabad, Bannu, Attock, Chakwal, Faisalabad and Gujrat.

This is the first election in which overseas Pakistanis will be able to cast their votes through the i-voting process.

A list of candidates from prominent political parties like Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P) and Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) is as following:

NA-131 (Lahore-IX)

• Humayun Akhtar Khan — PTI
• Asim Mahmood — PPP-P
• Rana Umer Shahzad — TLP
• Khawaja Saad Rafiq — PML-N

NA-124 (Lahore-II)

• Ghulam Mohiuddin Dewan — PTI
• Shahid Khaqan Abbasi — PML-N
• Shahbaz Mahmood Bhatti — PPP-P
• Abid Sher Ali — Independent
• Salman Iqbal — TLP

NA-103 (Faisalabad-III)

• Manzoor Hussain — TLP
• Muhammad Saddullah — PTI
• Ali Gohar Khan — PML-N
• Shahadat Ali Khan — PPPP

NA-35 (Bannu)

• Nasim Ali Shah — PTI
• Syeda Yasmin Safdar — PPP-P
• Zahid Akram Durrani — MMA

NA-243 (Karachi East-II)

• Naeem Akhtar — MMA
• Muhammad Alamgir Khan — PTI
• Syed Nawazul Huda — TLP
• Sharafat Ali — PMl-N
• Amir Waliuddin Chishti — MQM-P
• Hakim Ali — PPP-P
• Syed Asif Hasnain — PSP

NA-69 (Gujrat-II)

Moonis Ilahi — PML-Q Raja Salamat Ali — TLP Imran Zafar — PML-N

NA-63 (Rawalpindi-VII)

• Syed Ishrat Ali Zaidi — PPPP
• Aqeel Malik — PML-N
• Qurban Ali — TLP
• Mansoor Hayat Khan — PTI

NA-60 (Rawalpindi-IV)

• Zahid Aqeel — TLP
• Sajjad Khan — PML-N
• Sheikh Rashid Shafique — PTI

NA-56 (Attock-II)

• Syed Faisal Mehmood Shah — TLP
• Malik Khuram Ali Khan — PTI
• Malik Sohail Khan — PML-N

NA-53 (Islamabad-II)

• Khan Iftikhar Shahzada — PPPP
• Abdul Hafeez — TLP
• Ali Nawaz Awan — PTI
• Waqar Ahmed — PML-N

PESHAWAR: The authorities in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) Secretariat have sought delimitation of the recently merged seven tribal districts and six Frontier Regions as the provincial government is planning to hold the local government elections there in March next year.

The FATA Secretariat through a letter to the secretary Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on September 13 sought delimitation of the constituencies of the local governments in the erstwhile tribal areas.

The letter referred to the federal cabinet’s decision taken during its May 8 meeting that “Local Bodies elections would be held in the (former) Fata in October this year.”

It has approached the ECP secretary as in terms of Section 221 of the Election Act, 2017, the ECP is mandated to delimit constituencies of the local governments, which is one of the requirements before conducting elections.

The Fata Secretariat also informed the ECP that the present government attached high priority to the elections of the local governments in the former Fata and had endorsed the earlier decision that the local bodies’ polls in the merged tribal districts should be held as soon as possible.

The ECP has been asked to initiate the process of delimitation of the constituencies in the erstwhile tribal areas so that election could be held as per the proposed programme of the provincial government.

The News on Tuesday learnt that Fata Secretariat took a number of steps including approaching the ECP for delimitation after the officials at Strategic Support Unit (SSU), Chief Minister’s Secretariat, informed it that the provincial government intended to hold the local governments elections in the tribal districts in March next year.

Meanwhile, official sources told this scribe that the provincial government had made up its mind to hold the local governments polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in March next year at least two months ahead of the schedule of the polls that were last held in May 2015.

They said the local government elections in the former Fata, now merged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, could be held at the same time in March 2019. The officials said they have not yet received any response from the ECP with regard to the FATA Secretariat’s request for the delimitation of constituencies.

The Sartaj Aziz-led Fata Reforms Committee had proposed party-based local bodies elections in the tribal areas before the end of 2017 in case the repatriation and rehabilitation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) there was completed by that time.

However, the idea could not be materialised as complete rehabilitation and repatriation of the IDPs could not be done by the end of 2017.

Holding the local government elections in the former tribal areas requires updating of the electoral rolls and delimitation of the constituencies in accordance with the new census done in 2017.

The Fata Secretariat has in its preliminary report proposed two-tier local government system for the newly merged tribal districts i.e. the district and tehsil tiers.

The document retrieved from the Fata Secretariat indicates that only a tattered local government administrative network exists in the former tribal agencies and there was a need to strengthen it before the proposed polls.

It said that in a few merged tribal districts, assistant directors and other staff of the local government offices are still posted.

According to the document, under the 2002 Local Bodies Elections Order, as many as 296 union councils, including those in the Frontier Regions, had been notified in the erstwhile tribal areas.

A total of 19 tehsils, including Khuwezai/Baizai, were also notified in the former Fata.

Besides, 16 municipal committees were notified, though only Parachinar and Sadda in Kurram tribal district, Miranshah in North Waziristan and Khar in Bajaur are functional at the moment.

ISLAMABAD: The campaign to register overseas Pakistanis for internet-voting in the upcoming by-polls evoked a lukewarm response, with only 7,419 expatriates out of the total 632,000 registering to avail the facility offered to them for the first time in the country’s electoral history.

The process of registration of overseas Pakistanis from the 37 constituencies where by-elections are to be held on Oct 14 had started on Sept 1 and came to a close on Monday at 9am.

According to a statement released by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the website for the overseas voters remained functional 24/7 throughout the registration process and did not face any technical problems.

The ECP said only voters holding national identity card for overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) and machine readable passports (MRPs) were able to register to vote. This way, as many as 632,000 overseas Pakistanis from the 37 constituencies settled in 177 countries of the world were eligible to vote through the internet — which is 84 per cent of the total overseas Pakistanis from the given constituencies.

Under the plan, the over 7,400 registered voters will be sent voter pass (password) between Oct 10 and Oct 14 on the email address mentioned in their online application for registration, through which they would be able to cast their votes on election day.

On polling day, the voter shall log in to the website using his username and password and enter the voter pass emailed to him earlier. This will direct the voter to his registered national and provincial assembly constituencies to enable him to cast the vote.

A designated list of candidates of the selected constituency would then be displayed by the system and the voter shall select the election symbol of the candidate to cast his vote. Upon successful submission of the vote, a “confirmation” message would be displayed on the screen.

The ECP had already uploaded on its website separate video tutorials in Urdu and English languages as well as step-by-step help materials to guide voters through the registration and voting process.

An advertisement campaign had been launched through media to create awareness about the facility of internet voting made available for the overseas Pakistanis and the embassies and consulates of Pakistan had also been involved in the campaign.

The complete procedure had been defined by the ECP after being ordered by the Supreme Court to provide internet voting facility to the overseas Pakistanis for the upcoming by-polls. After two major opposition parties criticised ECP for what they called a hasty move, the ECP initially said it was just complying with the court orders. However, it later said that it was not moving in haste and said the political parties should hail the initiative.

PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Thursday announced scheduled for the by-election on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly constituency PK-71, Peshawar.

In General Elections of July 25, the seat was won by the PTI candidate Shah Farman, which fell vacant after his administering oath as

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor.

According to the spokesman for the ECP, the process of the filing nomination papers in by-election will start from tomorrow (Friday) and continue till September 15, 2018.

The preliminary list of candidates will be released on September 16, 2018 while scrutiny of the nominations will be held till September 19, 2018 and appeal against rejection or acceptance can be filled with Appellate Tribunal till September 25, 2018, which will be disposed of till September 28, 2018.

The final list of candidates will be released on September 29, 2018. The candidates can withdraw nominations till September 30, 2018, while election symbols to candidates will be allotted on October 1.

ISLAMABAD: On a complaint about alleged manipulation of election results, the Election Commission of Pak­istan (ECP) on Tuesday order­ed re-polling at two polling stations in Balochis­tan’s PB-41 (Washuk) constituency.

After a candidate pointed out to the ECP that results of two polling stations were missing from the final result of the constituency, it emerged that presiding officers of the two stations had been abducted by some masked men and were given copies of Form 45 with fabricated number of votes polled in favour of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s (MMA) candidate in the constituency.

The issue was taken up by the ECP after a petition filed by Balochistan Awami Party’s Mir Mujeebur Rehman Mohammad Hasani, drew its attention to the discrepancies in the results of the constituency.

During the course of the hearing, a returning officer told the commission that two presiding officers were allegedly abducted by the masked men on polling day and the results of the two polling stations were excluded from the final result.

He quoted the two presiding officers as claiming that they had not compiled the results of their stations themselves and that “they were forced to submit the results compiled by their abductors”.

“Who had abducted them?” an ECP official asked. At this, Kamran Murtaza, the counsel for the winner of the PB-41 seat, belonging to the MMA, quoted the presiding officers as saying they were “ab­ducted by security forces”.

The presiding officer of polling station number 44 had earlier told the ECP that “several masked men came and took me with them… After several hours I was handed the Form 45”.

The ECP had earlier reserved its decision regarding the results of the two polling stations.

The presiding officer of polling station number 45 claimed in a letter that he was “abducted by security forces” who later allegedly forced him to submit a Form 45 with a fabricated number of votes on it in order to favour the MMA candidate.

The contents of the letter had been verified by the returning officer concerned.

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said on Tuesday that it was not acting in haste to enable overseas Pakistanis to vote in the coming by-polls in 37 national and provincial assembly constituencies.

Speaking at a press conference with a Nadra official, ECP spokesman Chaudhry Nadeem Qasim said that overseas Pakistanis had the right to vote, adding that it was an effort the political parties “should admire”.

Mr Qasim said the process of registering overseas voters was under way and it would complete on Sept 15. He hoped that the maximum number of voters could be registered in the last few days.

He said an awareness campaign about the i-voting mechanism had been launched. A video message would be broadcast on PTV and advertisements would appear in newspapers, he added.

Official says process of registering overseas voters is under way and will complete on Sept 15

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The ECP spokesman explained that only holders of National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (Nicop) and machine-readable passport (MRP) could be registered for the i-voting process. He urged all overseas Pakistanis to register for the by-elections.

After being registered as voters they will be sent a password before October 14 on the email address provided by them. The password will be issued between 8am and 6pm, Pakistan Standard Time.

Mr Qasim said that i-voting of overseas Pakistanis was a ‘pilot project’ and its report would be presented in parliament.

After the ECP decided to introduce internet voting, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) voiced their concern that the system was prone to hacking.

PPP leader Raza Rabbani alleged recently that the stage was being set to rig the next general elections through an electronic fraud.

“The i-voting system being put into place is flawed from its inception and has the ingredients of becoming a tool in the hands of forces that may want to manipulate elections in Pakistan,” he warned.

Mr Rabbani, who was the first one to raise the issue in the Senate, pointed out that the task force set up by the ECP had itself expressed reservations over the move to allow overseas Pakistanis to use their right of vote through the internet.

“There is no method to ensure that online a person is freely using his or her right of vote and is not being coerced by someone,” he said, adding that the system also did not provide for the secrecy of the vote which was a violation of Section 94 of the Elections Act and Article 226 of the Constitution.

The PML-N, through a declaration issued after its parliamentary party meeting recently, stated that the government had taken the decision in haste and paved the way for ‘pre-poll rigging’.

It had also urged the ECP to take all parties on board on the issue and satisfy technical experts in this regard.

The ECP, in its initial response, had stated that it was only complying with the orders of the Supreme Court.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday decided to use the Results Transmission System (RTS) in the upcoming by-elections.

The country’s top electoral body had faced severe criticism after results were unusually delayed during the 2018 General Election due to a dealy attributed to the software.

On July 26, ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob had said that the results were delayed due to the RTS malfunction while data was being entered into it. Opposition parties have since then called the elections rigged and called for a probe into the RTS crash.

Following the ECP’s decision to use the software in the by-election, letters directing returning officers to use the software were issued.

According to letters, the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) will provide presiding and assistant presiding officers with the software on their phones.

 

ISLAMABAD: The number of votes rejected in the presidential election increased from 27 to 28 as Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza, in his capacity as the returning officer, officially declared on Wednesday Dr Arif Alvi of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) the winner of the poll.

As per the final result of the election prepared in the presence of representatives of the three candidates, out of the 28 rejected votes, 16 had been cast in the Punjab Assembly, six in Parliament House, five in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and one in the Sindh Assembly.

The winner, Dr Alvi, and runner-up Maulana Fazlur Rahman bagged 352 and 184 electoral votes, respectively, and not 352 and 185 as announced on Tuesday.

According to Form VII issued by the returning officer, the number of votes secured by PPP candidate Aitzaz Ahsan remained unchanged at 124.

The total number of valid votes polled and the electoral votes declined from 1,083 and 661 to 1,082 and 660 in the final result.

The minor changes however did not affect the margin of victory.

A total of 1,110 votes were cast during the election that was simultaneously held at Parliament House in the federal capital and the provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Dr Alvi got 212 of the 424 valid votes polled in the parliament, where MNAs and senators cast their votes. He secured more votes than his opponents in all the legislatures, except the assembly of Sindh — the province he belongs to.

The ECP has sent the official result to the federal government, which will notify Dr Alvi as the 13th president of the country. He will replace President Mamnoon Hussain, who will complete his tenure on September 9.