Trouble in NA-68: RO’s ‘typo’ created fuss in PM’s constituency
Poll body says the error was made while compiling data.
Poll body says the error was made while compiling data. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
ISLAMABAD:
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday conceded that there was an error in counting the ballots in NA-68 Sargodha – one of the constituencies from where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had contested last year’s general elections.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan had claimed that the poll in the premier’s constituency was marred by massive rigging. Earlier, PTI alleged thousands of votes were balloted in the polling station while the total number of registered voters was not more than 1,500.
In a bid to quell PTI’s apprehensions about the process, ECP summoned records of the constituency’s results from its provincial office to scrutinise them.
According to the poll body, it detected a typing mistake where a returning officer, while compiling the results had written 7,879 instead of 779 on the final result sheet.
“It was a typing error. But this could in no way have affected the overall results in the constituency. The winner had a margin of over 90,000 votes,” Sher Afghan, DG elections of ECP said while talking to media.
The record from the constituency shows that at polling station no 246, set up at Government Girls Elementary School in Popla, the total number of registered voters was 1,537, of these 845 were male while 692 were female.
A total of 1,067 votes (male and female) were balloted at the polling station. Fifteen among these were challenged and were dropped in the count. The premier secured 779 votes at this polling station.
ECP officials claimed that it was a typing error on part of the returning officer and should be condoned. However, PTI maintains that such ‘typos’ have cost the party a lot in Punjab, the power base of ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
NA-68 was one of the multiple constituencies from where Nawaz had contested and won with a big margin. He had vacated the seat.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 22nd, 2014
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday conceded that there was an error in counting the ballots in NA-68 Sargodha – one of the constituencies from where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had contested last year’s general elections.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan had claimed that the poll in the premier’s constituency was marred by massive rigging. Earlier, PTI alleged thousands of votes were balloted in the polling station while the total number of registered voters was not more than 1,500.
In a bid to quell PTI’s apprehensions about the process, ECP summoned records of the constituency’s results from its provincial office to scrutinise them.
According to the poll body, it detected a typing mistake where a returning officer, while compiling the results had written 7,879 instead of 779 on the final result sheet.
“It was a typing error. But this could in no way have affected the overall results in the constituency. The winner had a margin of over 90,000 votes,” Sher Afghan, DG elections of ECP said while talking to media.
The record from the constituency shows that at polling station no 246, set up at Government Girls Elementary School in Popla, the total number of registered voters was 1,537, of these 845 were male while 692 were female.
A total of 1,067 votes (male and female) were balloted at the polling station. Fifteen among these were challenged and were dropped in the count. The premier secured 779 votes at this polling station.
ECP officials claimed that it was a typing error on part of the returning officer and should be condoned. However, PTI maintains that such ‘typos’ have cost the party a lot in Punjab, the power base of ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
NA-68 was one of the multiple constituencies from where Nawaz had contested and won with a big margin. He had vacated the seat.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 22nd, 2014