ISLAMABAD: The Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take note of returning officers’ (ROs) non-compliance with the laws, which ‘overshadowed an otherwise largely controversy-free voting and counting process at the polling stations’.
The non-governmental election watchdog recommended the country’s top poll organizer to strengthen categorical legal measures demanding complete openness throughout the election results process, including the creation of provisional and consolidated results in constituencies.
“Section 92 of the Elections Act, 2017 requires the returning officers to prepare and announce the Provisional Consolidated Statement of the Results of the Count (Form-47) in the presence of contesting candidates, their election agents, and authorised observers as may be present.”
“Similarly, Section 95(1) mandates the returning officer to consolidate the results in front of the contesting candidates and their election agents. Section 95(9) requires Returning Officers to furnish copies of Form-48 (Consolidated Statement of the Results of the Count Provided by the Presiding Officers) and Form-49 (Final Consolidated Result). Section 238 also allows qualified observers to monitor the aggregation of findings.”
However, the ROs in 135 of 260 National Assembly constituencies did not comply with these criteria.
undermining the ECP’s efforts to maximize election transparency, which were largely maintained during the voting and counting procedures at polling locations. The Returning Officers refused to allow Fafen monitors to observe the tabulation process in 135 seats, including 80 in Punjab, 23 in Sindh, 18 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 11 in Balochistan, and all three in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), according to an official statement.
Of these 135 constituencies, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independents won 46, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) 43, Pakistan Peoples Party-Parliamentarians (PPP-P) 28, unaffiliated independents 5 and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan 3, two by Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Pakistan Muslim League (PML), and one each by Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), Balochistan National Party (BNP), Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), and Majlis-e-Wahdat.
