No individual or a group will be allowed to rig the polls, Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad, Secretary,
Election Commission of Pakistan.
Islamabad, the 16th February , 2008:- The Delegations of Observers from SAARC , United States, Jordan, Liberia, Morocco Japan and from other countries called on Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad, Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan and discussed matters relating to the conduct of General Election , 2008.
Secretary Election Commission briefed the Delegations regarding the arrangements launched by Election Commission of Pakistan for the conduct of General Elections 2008. He said , Today the election has become the internationally accepted instrument of political change and the Elections are the eyes of the Nation they always go for the eyes because they are the windows of the state of mind.
Secretary ECP said, as reiterated by the Honorable Chief Election Commissioner, the government writ has been established in the troubled areas to a large extent, therefore, there would be no hindrance in holding of elections in a peaceful manner. Every possible steps would be taken to ensure the polls peacefully in the troubled areas. We are sure that the government’s writ will be fully established in those areas by February 18th 2008. He said that, we are determined to conduct the elections in a complete fair, free and transparent manner. No individual or a group will be allowed to rig the polls, and whoever is found guilty of rigging, will strictly be taken to task.
The Provincial Governments have compiled the lists of sensitive polling stations in their respective provinces, because ultimately, it is their responsibility to maintain law and order. As regards of ballot papers the Secretary said that the printing of ballot papers has been completed and now is ready for dispatch to the Districts.
In all, 64,176 Polling Stations with 1-lac 70-thousand 174 Polling Booths have been established all over the country. For the purpose, 5-lac 72-thousand Polling Personnel have been appointed by the concerned Returning Officers. Complete list of the Polling Stations has also been uploaded on the ECP Website. Anybody desiring any information can contact Assistant Election Commissioners for guidance. For the facility of the Political Parties, Contesting Candidates and general public, the Computerized Electoral Rolls have been hosted on the Website of ECP in order to facilitate the Political Parties. In addition, the constituency-wise DVDs have also been prepared and supplied free of cost to them for the first time in the electoral history of Pakistan. The DVDs containing constituency-wise Electoral Rolls are also available in the ECP Secretariat, Islamabad, in the offices of Provincial Election Commissioners of their respective Provinces and in the offices of Assistant Election Commissioners for their respective districts.
Secretary said, Election Commission of Pakistan has issued following instructions to all the Returning Officers on the Consolidation of Official results. The Presiding Officer shall immediately undertake counting of votes at the polling stations at the close of poll in the presence of Election/Polling Agents or observers as may be present. He will follow the procedure laid down in section 38 of the Representation of the People Act, 1976 read with rules 23, 24 & 25 of the Representation of the People (Conduct of Elections) Rules, 1977. He shall prepare carbonized copies of the Statement of the Count on Form-XIV as well as Statement of Ballot Paper Account on Form-XV, obtain signatures of Polling Agents thereon and supply copies thereof to the Polling Agents, as may be present. He shall also affix a copy of Statement of Count (Form XIV) outside the Polling Station for information of general public. He shall write the votes secured by each candidate both in words and figures in the Statement of the Count. He shall then put a copy of Statement of the Count in an envelope, seal it and arrange to send it to the Returning Officer by the quickest possible means. He shall also put one copy each of Statement of the Count (Form-XIV) as well as Statement of Ballot Paper Account (Form-XV), duly sealed, in the polling bag together with such packet and other record, as required under Section 38(15) of the Act, for preservation in the Treasury.
COUNTING IN THE OFFICE OF RETURNING OFFICER:
The Returning Officer on receipt of Statements of the Count from the Presiding Officers shall sum-up the total for the constituency in the presence of Candidates, their Election Agents and Observers as may be present. He will obtain signatures of Candidates or their Election Agents on the Preliminary Result prepared by him and supply a copy to them. He shall then announce Preliminary Result of constituency LOCALLY and affix a copy thereof outside his office for information of general public. The Returning Officer shall convey the Preliminary Result to Election Commission Secretariat, Islamabad over telephone and shall confirm it through telefax, as per Result Tally Sheets. The Provincial Election Commissioners shall ensure that telefax and telephone facilities are available with all Returning Officers under their jurisdiction.
In order to conduct Free and Fair Elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan has issued the following Directives :
(i) Banning use of State resources and misuse of official position by the Executive Authorities in the Federation and in the Provinces as well as by the Zila, Tehsil, Town and Nazims.
(ii) Banning transfers/postings of Civil Servants till the completion of the process of forthcoming General Election.
(iii) Directing Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to monitor the operations of all TV Channels including State-owned TV (PTV) to ensure that coverage of the Political Parties is fair, unbiased and balanced.
In order to strengthen the democratic electoral system, the Secretary ECP told that, electoral commodities of international standard are being used for the first time, during the forthcoming General Elections. For this purpose, four Lac thirty thousands (4,30,000) Transparent Ballot Boxes with Plastic Seals and three lacs (3,00,000) Portable Voting Screens have been imported and supplied to the field offices for use, during the forthcoming General Elections in collaboration with the UNDP and USAID.
He said, The allegations regarding the Postal Ballot Papers were baseless. There is a set procedure for getting the postal ballots on a prescribed form. This year 1.681million postal ballots had been printed and according to the information received from across the country by the due date of 28 December about 80,000 postal ballots were issued. During the elections in 2002, in all 54,062 postal ballots were issued.
We have established complaint cells in the offices of all Provincial Election Commissioners including Islamabad to dispose off the complaints. Till to date we have completed scrutiny of about 1500 complaints on the violation of “Code of Conduct” submitted by various candidates. The District and Sessions Judges had conducted a thorough scrutiny of all complaints and found that most of them were not genuine.
We have taken all necessary steps to ensure Free, Fair and Transparent elections in the country and equitable and level-playing opportunities are being made available to all the political parties for their election campaign. The accusations of pre-poll rigging do not hold water
Mr. K.M Dilshad said, that he would also like to suggest that the representatives of the Pakistani Media should also be invited to the foreign countries to observe and cover the Elections; this exercise will help them to enhance their knowledge and understanding of the electoral processes in other countries.