ECP blames internet shutdown for delay in election results

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has blamed the internet shutdown for the delay in the general election. However, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Sikandar Sultan Mirza, had previously claimed that internet interruption would not affect the announcement of results.

A day before, the CEC stated that the electoral body had issued results without internet interruptions many times.

In a fresh statement, the official said they were facing difficulties in running the system due to the internet shutdown.

The official added that they had obtained the results of 9,000 polling stations, but 81,000 were still awaiting results.

However, the law restricts the ECP from timely result announcements. Under Section 84 of the Election Act 2017, Returning Officers are required to send a scanned copy of Form 47, based on the provisional results, to the ECP by 2am on poll day.

If an RO fails to send a copy of Form 47 by that time, they are required to send the results to the ECP with a written reason for the delay.

In these written reasons, the officer shall indicate the polling stations from which the results are yet to be received and shall send the complete provisional results as soon as possible, but not later than 10am.

The Returning Officer, in case of undue delay, shall forward the case against the Presiding Officers and take disciplinary action against them under Sections 54 and 55 of the Election Commission Act.