ECP considering deploying smartphones during by-polls

Presiding officers could be asked to use apps like WhatsApp to relay form-14

ISLAMABAD:

After the verdict of the judicial commission probing the May 2013 general elections pointing out irregularities in the way returning and presiding officers had handled crucial documents, the top poll body is considering a proposal to deploy smartphones in upcoming by-polls to help improve transparency for form-14s.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) may use smartphones with presiding officers at select polling stations during by-elections in NA-122 Lahore and NA-154 Lodhran. The constituencies promise to be hotly contested between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

As part of the pilot project suggested by ECP’s IT wing, presiding officers will use the devices to scan copies of results at their assigned polling stations immediately after the ballots have been counted in the presence of polling agents of political parties, and send it directly to ECP headquarters. Further, presiding officers will also record videos – to use as evidence – in case of any wrongdoing by any contesting group inside polling stations.

Under ECP’s code of conduct, while voters are barred from carrying their phones into polling stations, there is no such restriction for polling staff.

“We are likely to test the new technology,” a senior ECP official with knowledge of the proposal told The Express Tribune, adding “The proposal is to use smartphone apps like WhatsApp or some other credible application and get scanned copies of the result forms directly from the presiding officers.”

The move has been proposed in light of complaints from candidates that they were not provided attested copies of form-14 – which is the statement of the count. Details of used and unused ballot papers are compiled on a separate form.

The form is then attached with the sealed bags of ballot papers before being sent to district returning officers. Returning officers then compile results of the constituency by accumulating results on form-14s from all polling stations.

No easy task

While the proposal appears to be attractive, it will not be easy to implement, with some within ECP already opposing it.

They claim every presiding officer may not have access to a smartphone. In such an event, the ECP would have to provide each presiding officer with a phone, which will be an expensive exercise especially when expanded beyond the scope of the pilot project.

The project harks back to the failed experiment during the May 2013 general elections, when the ECP had asked presiding officers to e-mail a copy of form 16 and 17 carrying results of vote count of their constituency and unused ballots immediately to ECP headquarters. The UNDP funded project had collapsed on election day when ECP’s system crashed.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2015.