Six hours after the polls ended on February 8, boxes were still piling up in the office of a returning officer (RO), in charge of a hotly contested national assembly constituency in central Punjab.
The boxes contained ballot papers and original documentation documenting the count of each polling station in the constituency.
However, by midnight, the data entry operators in the RO’s office had made little effort to enter the results into the specifically developed Election Management System (EMS).
Outside, presiding officers (POs) strolled aimlessly, unsure when the results of their polling stations would be entered into the system, signaling the conclusion of their long day.
The screen outside the office, which was supposed to show real-time findings to the media, was also blank.
“An estimated 70% of the results had arrived by 12 am,” said a trustworthy source, an eyewitness to the developments. “But interestingly, none of the data entry operators were entering the results into the system. Presiding operators were advised to simply wait.”
Then, about 1 a.m., “an important-looking official” arrived, according to the source. He withdrew everyone, including the election observers, from the RO’s office.
“I don’t know what happened inside after that,” the insider admitted.
