KARACHI – The Election Management System (EMS) has become non-functional due to an unknown reason in the port city here on Thursday night.
According to AAJ TV, the presiding officers have been unable to provide Form 45 to returning officers on time due to the non-availability of mobile phone and internet services in the country. Despite the passage of four hours, the presiding officers are still unable to issue Form 45 in the West district of the city.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has not yet made any statements regarding this matter.
Earlier, two election officials raised concerns about faults in the Election Management System (EMS), which is set to be used for the February 8 general elections in Pakistan. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) claims that the countrywide test run of EMS has been successful.
However, Abdul Qadir Mashori, the Qambar assistant commissioner (AC) and Returning Officer (RO) for National Assembly seat NA-197 (Qambar-Shahdadkot-II), and Usman Khaskheli, the Bakrani AC and RO for PS-12 (Larkana-III) seat of Sindh Assembly, have written letters to their superiors, stating almost identical issues regarding the EMS.
In an interview with ARY News, Syed Asif Hussain, the Secretary of the Election Commission, disclosed that 3,600 individuals have been trained to operate the EMS system, and 3,000 computers have been set up for the purpose. The ECP Secretary claimed that the issues that arose during the EMS trials have been resolved, and a private network has been established for the systems to operate without internet access.
In another interview, Khizar Hayat, the Director-General Information Technology (DG-IT), confirmed that the EMS has been successfully used in 40 elections, and its technology has been improved to ensure smooth operations during the polls. He further explained that the Presiding Officer (PO) will report the results to the Returning Officer (RO) via EMS, and in case of any problem, the PO will provide the findings to the RO in person.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has completed the printing of 260 million ballot papers for all constituencies in the country in preparation for the February 8 general elections. According to an ECP spokesperson, National Assembly ballots are printed on green paper, while Provincial Assembly ballots are printed on white paper. The distribution of printed ballot papers has been finalised across the nation, except for 31 districts.
The printing process began on January 14 and concluded on February 3. In compliance with a Supreme Court directive, ballot papers for 11 National Assembly and five Provincial Assembly constituencies were reprinted, and the original ones were destroyed as per the court order.
