ECP disowns its review report on Election 2013
Report on website comprises of recommendations by national, international observers, says ECP
ISLAMABAD: (Dunya News) – Election Commission of Pakistan has disowned the review report published on its official website. ECP spokesperson has said that the report published on the official website has not been prepared by the institution. He said that the report actually comprises of recommendations and suggestions given by the national and international observers of Election 2013.
According to the ECP spokesperson, Fact Sheet will be presented before Parliamentary committee on September 29. “Election Commission is preparing a fact sheet regarding the role played by Returning Officers (ROs) in the General Elections 2013”, he said. He further stated that facts regarding printing of the ballot papers and magnetic ink will also be shared in the fact sheet.
The review report published yesterday (Monday) had admitted large-scale irregularities in the elections. It said that Article 62, 63 were not implemented correctly and every RO implemented the articles according to his understanding of the articles. Report also said that Election Commission failed to direct the ROs regarding proper scrutiny of the papers. NAB, NADRA, FBR and State Bank of Pakistan did not share complete details about the candidates, according to this report. Report stated that several candidates were cleared without proper scrutiny of nomination papers. Due to delay in the printing, ballot papers reached late at several polling stations.
According to the review report the Result Management System made with the help of UNDP proved to be a complete failure. ROs sent the results to ECP which written by hand. Due to errors in Form 16, ROs sent the forms that were hand-written. Confusion was created due to extension in polling time.
However, ECP has disowned this report now. Interesting fact is that despite being disowned by the Election Commission, the report is still on ECP’s official website. Report also contains the names of the team-members and logo of Election Commission.
