ECP seeks federal, provincial authorities’ assistance in delimitation process

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ECP launches RMS to improve accuracy, efficiency and transparency during general elections

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Thursday directed federal and provincial authorities to assist the commission in delimitation of constituencies and revision of electoral rolls per Article 220 of the constitution.

The ECP directed the relevant authorities to freeze the limits of the revenue units from December 22, 2017, till the completion of the delimitation process, according to a press release.

In a letter written to provincial chief secretaries, additional chief secretary (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) and Ministry of Statistics secretary have been directed to accomplish various tasks and furnish necessary information as mentioned therein within stipulated dates.

The letter directed all quarters concerned for furnishing the requisite information by January 10, 2018, so that the activities being carried out in connection to the delimitation process and revision of the electoral rolls were not hampered.

The letter also said that through the 24th constitutional amendment, the clause (3) and clause (5) of Article 51 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan have been amended according to which the seats in the National Assembly have been allocated to each province, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the federal capital on the basis of provisional results of the census.

The letter further stated that the ECP was under constitutional obligation to delimit the constituencies and revise the electoral rolls accordingly before the upcoming general elections.

Meanwhile, in order to make the next general elections more transparent, the ECP had designed a reliable Result Management System (RMS) to further improve accuracy, efficiency and transparency of the results tabulation process.

The RMS had the capacity to store all the scanned pages of forms-XIV, XVI and XVII, along with data stored permanently for audit trail accountability purposes.

Listing the steps being taken to improve the overall working of the commission, official sources said that a data bank of officers and officials had already been prepared for onward appointment as presiding officers, assistant presiding officers and polling officers to facilitate their training well before the elections.

An independent monitoring wing had also been established in the ECP to oversee pre-poll and post-poll activities and point out illegal practices, including huge spending on electoral exercises in violation of the law.

The sources further said that interaction with political parties and civil society organisations were being held for preparation and finalisation of existing code of conduct to get their feedback/suggestions for making improvements in the election process.

They also said that as many as 130 District Voters Education Committees were being formed to motivate the general public, especially women belonging to rural areas, persons with disabilities, transgenders and other marginalised groups with the help of civil society organisations, notables of different areas and relevant departments in each district to take part in electoral activities, including registration of votes.

Around 30 more warehouses were also being established across the country at each divisional level to safeguard election material.

The ECP had successfully conducted GIS survey of all polling stations (71,000) across the country. Currently, extension work was under progress to add additional polling stations as preparations for the general elections 2018.

An exclusive gender wing had been established in the ECP to encourage inclusion of female staff at ECP, developing strategies and implementing plans for reducing gender disparity, conduct research to identify barriers for women and marginalised sections of society from participation in the electoral process and develop a mechanism to enhance integration of women in the system.

The ECP had procured 150 electronic voting machines and 100 bio-metric verification machines by following Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules.

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