Elections 2018 Update
Elections 2018 Update: As per law general elections are held within the 60 days after the end of present government’s term.
SMS Service Launched By ECP: Election Commission of Pakistan has launched SMS service in major cities for the voters to get details about their polling stations.
According to the ECP, the voters by sending their CNIC number to 8300 can get the required details about their polling stations. The ECP officials said the service initially launched in major cities will be expanded to the entire country.
ECP Continues The Preparations For General Election
All wings of the Election Commission of Pakistan are continuing preparations for upcoming general election. This was briefed during a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan in Islamabad.
It was informed that printing of ballot papers has entered the final phase; however, the process has been halted for eighty-five constituencies of national and provincial assemblies due to cases pending in various high courts.
Over 210 Million Ballot Papers Being Printed: Printing of Ballot Papers for upcoming General Elections is underway at three printing presses in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore.
More than 210 Million Ballots Papers will be printed. The printing process will conclude on July 20. Water Mark and several other Security Features are being incorporated for the first time in the Ballot Papers.
Green Ballot Paper will be used for National Assembly Polls while White for the Provincial Assembly.
ECP Extends Polling Time For 1 Hour: The Election Commission of Pakistan has extended polling time for one hour for general elections to be held on 25th of next month. The polling will begin at 8 in the morning and will continue till 6 pm without any break.
Candidates To submit Party Tickets By 29-06-2018: Election Commission of Pakistan has directed candidates to submit party affiliation certificate to their respective Returning Officers today(Friday)
The Commission has made it clear that party symbols would not be allotted to those who fail to submit their party affiliation certificates.
Polling Scheme Announced By ECP: The Election Commission has issued polling scheme for upcoming general elections. According to ECP, the scheme issued for the National Assembly and provincial assemblies’ has also been uploaded on the Commission’s website. The scheme includes number of polling stations, polling booths, number of votes at every polling station. Census code and details of the area are also part of the scheme.
Code of Conduct Issued For Media: The Election Commission has issued code of conduct and guidelines for media for the general elections. The news, current affairs programs, interviews, talk-shows and analyses should not be biased in favor of or against any party or candidate.
The code of conduct has directed the broadcasters will not air any final, formal and definite elections results without the consent or they will be aired only with clear disclaimer that they are unofficial, incomplete and partial results.
The Election Commission has directed the concerned authorities to ensure that there is no act of violence, intimidation or harassment towards the media.
PPP To Start Formal Campaign After June 30: Pakistan People’s Party has completed consultations for Electioneering.
Political Parties Hold Gatherings In Various Cities: Election Campaign kicks off with some Political Parties holding their gatherings in various Parts of the Country.
Pakistan Muslim League-N is set to start its Election Campaign from Karachi Tomorrow.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has announced to launch country-wide election campaign on Sunday from Mianwali
Action Plan For Printing, Dispatch Of Ballot Papers Released: The Election Commission of Pakistan has released action plan regarding printing and dispatch of ballot papers for upcoming general elections to the four provincial Election Commissioners, Pakistan National security printing corporation, Pakistan post foundation and Pakistan printing corporation press Islamabad.
Under the action plan, all the provincial election commissioners have been directed to get detail of the number of ballot papers from returning officers concerned and provide the same to the aforementioned printing presses by 30th of this month so that printing of ballot papers could be started at the earliest.
Army Troops To Monitor Elections 2018: The Ministry of Defense has agreed to provide 350,000 troops for election duties as requested by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
According to the sources, the defence ministry has decided to call back for the purpose army, air force and navy personnel who retired in the last two years.
The army will take over the security of the Printing Corporation of Pakistan, which published ballot papers, from June 27 whereas it will take up election duties four days before the July 25 polls.
The ECP had written a summary to the defence ministry seeking 350,000 troops for election duty.
Last week, the ECP had declared that army personnel would be posted inside and outside the polling stations as well as at the printing press from June 27 till polling day.
Though the army has been deployed to secure the general elections before, such a high number has never been seen earlier. According to media reports, with 350,000 available personnel, the armed forces will be able to post two security officials inside and two outside the around 85,000 polling stations.
Code of Conduct Issued By ECP: Election Commission of Pakistan has issued Code of Conduct for upcoming general elections. According to ECP, there will be a complete ban on the use of panaflex and hoardings. The sizes of posters and banners in the election campaign have also been fixed. It has also prohibited use of pictures of irrelevant persons on banners.
The Commission has directed all stakeholders to strictly comply with this code and warned that strict action will be taken against violators.
Appeals Against Nomination Papers: As per the election schedule, appeals against rejection or acceptance of nomination papers can be filed by June 22. The decision on the appeals will be made by June 27, after which the final list of the candidates will be shared on June 28.
The last date for withdrawal of candidature will be June 29.
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has constituted 20 tribunals to hear appeals on nomination papers rejected by the returning officers across the country.
Appointment of DMOs: Election Commission of Pakistan has appointed 132 District Monitoring Officers (DMO) and 592 Monitoring Teams (MT) throughout the country to monitor the Election Campaign in general election
Nomination Papers Filed For NA & PAs: A total of 21,482 nomination papers were filed for National Assembly and four provincial assemblies for the upcoming July 25 general elections, according to data compiled by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The returning officers have started to conduct scrutiny of candidates from Tuesday, which will continue till June 19.
ECP Announces Change in Schedule: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday announced changes in the schedule for General Elections 2018, however, polling date will remain the same.
The ECP said that the date for submission of nomination papers was extended for facilitating political parties. The nomination papers can now be submitted until June 11, the ECP said.
The deadline to complete the scrutiny of nomination papers was extended from June 14 to June 19.
Online System From ECP: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is planning to use its online system for transparent scrutiny of candidates for the general election 2018.
Online scrutiny system under which FIA, NAB, SBP and FBR will be linked with the ECP to provide necessary information about the contesting candidates to all Returning Officers. The objective is to ensure transparency in scrutiny process of candidates and details of candidates are available with all Returning Officers during scrutiny process.
Nomination Papers For Election: ECP will only accept nomination papers for provincial and national assemblies after thorough scrutiny and fulfillment of requirements by the ticket holders. ECP will ensure that the nominees fully comply with all the conditions stated in Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution.
A fully coordinated strategy will be chalked out in order to ensure that the elections are carried out in strict compliance with the code of conduct announced by the ECP.
Strict action will be taken against political parties and independent candidates violating the given rules and code of conduct.
Voters for General Elections 2018: According to figures released by Election Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan has currently 105.95 million voters to cast their votes in upcoming general elections 2018.
Out of 105.95 million voters, 59.22 million voters are male while 46.73 million of voters are female.
Punjab has the most number of voters with 60.67 million voters in the province including 26.99 female voters. Sindh has the second highest number of voters with the total of 22,39 million voters who have registered themselves to cast their votes out of which 9.95 million are female voters.
KPK is the third largest vote bank with the total number of voters standing at 15.31 million out of which 6.6 million are the female voters.
PPP Party Symbol For Election From “Arrow” To “Sword”: PPP did conduct an election with sword symbol in 1970 and 1977. At the time of late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto sword was the electoral symbol of Pakistan People s Party (PPP).
In 2013, elections PPP was allotted with an “Arrow” election symbol but chances are that this year PPP will run the general elections 2018 with its historical “Sword” symbol.
At least 13 transgenders will contest the Pakistan general elections this year. Two of them will contest for the National Assembly and the rest for the provincial assemblies.
Elections Meeting Announced to Finalize Elections Procedure: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has summoned a consultation meeting of all political parties on May 31.
The meeting will be held at 11am. A elections procedure will be finalized in the meeting of all the political parties in the National Assembly.
The meeting has been summoned under Elections Act, 2017, section 233 sub-section (1). In this connection, letter of invitation has been dispatched to all political parties chiefs.
Training Of Polling staff: Chief Election Commissions Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza on Friday said all possible measures will be taken to ensure free and fair forthcoming general elections. He asked the ECP to ensure international standard training of the polling staff.
He informed that informed that the supply of almost all election-related material has been completed and training of the polling staff is underway. The training of the district returning officers has been completed and training of returning officers will be completed till June, 2018.
Elections Date: As per media reports and sources the date has been finalized for Pakistan General Elections 2018. They will be held on July 25th. A summary has been sent to President Mamnoon Hussain by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to confirm this date.
Estimated Cost of General elections 2018: According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the estimated cost of general elections 2018 in Pakistan will be roughly Rs.20 billion. ECP has further explained the detailed expenses saying that Rs.2.5 billion will only be spent on purchasing, printing, and distribution of the special ballot papers.
Rs.6 to Rs.7 billion is likely to go into remuneration of election duties which has to be conducted with various government employees and temporary workers.
It is a rough estimate by the ECP which could go beyond the expectations; there are many smaller expenses that are not yet taken into the account.
Election Symbols
Election Commission of Pakistan has directed the political parties to submit applications for allotment of election symbols by 25th of this month.
Party Manifestos
Speakers in the conference at the Pakistan Institute of Parliamentarian Services (PIPS) have called upon political parties to include women health and hygiene into their manifestos while adding that gender equality along with the rights for health were absolutely fundamental for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.
Election Commission and NADRA Project:
National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has launched computerized national identity documents and completion of all the requirements of public registration in remote areas through mobile registration cars ahead of Elections 2018.
The action was taken by Supreme Court of Pakistan and Election Commission of Pakistan, for the people of rural areas of NADRA Regional Office Punjab, Lahore Region’s districts Lahore, Gujranwala, Narowal, Sialkot, Sheikhopura, Nankana, and Kasur.
The 3-months project is lead by NADRA Punjab Director General, under “NADRA Mobile Registration Car”. As the elections are around the corner, the government is taking initiatives to involve people in the voting system and exercise their rights.
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