Missing election records: ECP to submit reply to PTI plea today

Claim that though Form 14, 16 and 17 are 100 per cent available, the body is trying to procure Form 15

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is facing increasing difficulty in the procurement of allrecords related to the use of ballot papers, a senior official told The Express Tribune.

Giving a response to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)’s plea, seeking Form 14 , 15, 16 and 17, Salman Akram Raja, counsel for the ECP, told the inquiry commission that  though Form 14, 16 and 17 are 100 per cent available, the poll supervisory body is trying to procure Form 15.



Form 15 is the ballot paper account prepared by the presiding officer that carries statistics about the number of ballot papers entrusted to him, and those taken out from the ballot boxes and counted, besides the number of tendered, challenged and spoilt ballots.

During the hearing, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada told the three-judge commission, headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, that in pursuance of the commission’s last order, they could not get the ECP’s response regarding Form 14, 15, 16, 17 and the election scheme so far, adding that this election record is vital for them to further proceed in this matter.

Counsel for PTI while referring to section 44 of The Representation of People Act 1976 said that the ROs are bound to forward the packets to the ECP containing the ballot papers, each of which shall be sealed with seal of presiding officer or if opened by the RO with the seal of the RO.

Pirzada, while questioning the fairness of the ECP’s conduct, stated that the commission is contradicting its earlier statement regarding the possession of records.

Similarly, Justice Amir Hani Muslim also pressed the counsel for the ECP that under the rules, the ballot paper records should be in possession of the ECP.

However, the counsel for the ECP said that Form 15 was sent to the treasury through a notification. He requested the commission to grant one more day to file a proper reply in this matter. Upon this, the commission asked him to submit a response over PTI’s plea today (Tuesday).

It has already been reported that till December 2014, the ROs did not provide the ECP two important polling documents include Forms 14 and 15 for as many as 51 National Assembly constituencies.

According to the news report, thirty-six of the 51 constituencies from where the key documents are to be received by the ECP are from Punjab, seven from Sindh, three each from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan while two are from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2015.