In a five-page audit report made public on July 3, Pattan claimed that even five months after the election, the full Form-45s for twenty provincial assemblies and one National Assembly in Lahore had not been posted on the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) website.
Rather, Form 46s were uploaded for these constituencies under the name Form-45s.
In response, the electoral authority asserted in a news release that all Form-45s “had been uploaded on the website” and called Pattan’s allegation “misleading.”
Pattan’s story was verified as accurate by Fact Check, while ECP’s assertion was deemed to be false.
Declare
In a five-page audit report made public on July 3, Pattan said that the full Form-45s for twenty constituencies in the province parliament, one constituency in the national assembly, and twenty constituencies in Lahore had not been posted on the ECP website for the polls scheduled for February 8.
The valid number of votes cast for each candidate running at each polling place in a constituency is recorded on Form-45s.
The report further stated that the ECP published Form-46s for 21 Lahore constituencies under the heading “Form-45s” rather than uploading Form-45s. Information on the quantity of ballots used at each polling place or booth within a constituency was supplied by Form-46s.
PP-146, PP-148, PP-150, PP-151, PP-152, PP-153, PP-154, PP-156, PP-157, PP-159, PP-160, and PP-162 were the constituencies listed in the report.
However, NA-125 was the only National Assembly seat mentioned in the report.
Pattan added that in accordance with Elections Act of 2017 Section 98[2], “The [Election] Commission shall publish the name of each contesting candidate and the total number of votes received by him/her within 14 days from the date of the poll.”
The ECP claimed in a press release two days later, on July 5, that the audit report was “misleading” and that all of the Form-45s were accessible on the internet, but it did not state when they were published.
