custody of forms 15 so let them produce what is available with them. He further submitted that it should also be assured that these bags were not touched.
“By Friday we will have a good picture”, Salman Akram Raja, counsel for the Election Commission, again assured the commission.
The Chief Justice told Abdul Hafeez Pirzada that 70 percent Returning Officers (ROs) have assured the Election Commission of providing Forms 15, which were not official but they had retained it for record. “Would it be acceptable to you, the forms retrieved from ROs? Abdul Hafeez Pirzada however sought some time for consultation with his client. The commission then took 10 minutes break and later on, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada requested the commission to retrieve the forms from the bags in the presence of local commission offices. Meanwhile, the commission asked Salman Akram Raja to provide some staff of the ECP to ascertain how these forms could be retrieved.
The commission convened the meeting today (Wednesday) in the chamber at 9 a.m. to get the opinion of the staff of the Election Commission for retrieving the forms and adjourned the hearing till Thursday May 28.
Later, the commission recorded testimony of former Election Commissioner Balochistan Sultan Bazeed. Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, Shahid Hamid and Salman Akram Raja cross-examined him.
While answering questions from Abdul Hafeez Pirzada he testified that they had received ballot papers for constituencies by May 2, 2013 and that the ballot papers were printed by Pakistan Security Printing Corporation, Karachi. He said the entire election material as airlifted from Karachi under the security of Pak Army and was received by the respective Returning Officers in Balochistan. He further testified that polling scheme for Balochistan was duly notified.
The former provincial election commissioner said that three election tribunals were set up in the province but were later on reduced to two.
To another question he said that all elections petitions filed with these tribunals were disposed of. He further said that it is correct to say that election petitions relating to constituencies 42, 43, 47, 48 were dismissed while the petition related to NA-272 was also dismissed.
The commission also recorded testimony of Muhammad Naeem Akhtar, the incumbent chief accountant in the Printing Corporation of Pakistan. He said that before his coming to the Printing Corporation of Pakistan as chief accountant, he was serving as deputy secretary Cabinet Division.