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Thursday March 28, 2024

First time in history…: Tendered, challenged ballot papers to be counted

In the July 25 parliamentary polls, the ‘tendered’ and ‘challenged’ ballot papers will also be counted like ordinary votes in favour of or against the contesting candidates while spoilt ballots will not be computed.

By Tariq Butt
July 23, 2018

ISLAMABAD: In the July 25 parliamentary polls, the ‘tendered’ and ‘challenged’ ballot papers will also be counted like ordinary votes in favour of or against the contesting candidates while spoilt ballots will not be computed.

However, some tendered and challenged ballots, held invalid, will not be taken into account. Under Section 90(15) of the Elections Act, the Presiding Officer (PO) will seal in separate packets the un-issued ballots; tendered papers; challenged ballots held to be valid and counted by the PO; challenged papers considered doubtful and excluded from the count by the PO; spoilt ballots; marked copies of the electoral rolls; the counterfoils of used ballot papers; and such other papers as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) or Returning Officer (RO) may direct.

If a person representing himself to be a voter applies for a ballot paper when another person has already represented to be that voter and has voted under the name of the person so applying if the applicant meets the requirements of laid down identity verification, he will be entitled to receive a ballot paper (tendered ballots) in the same manner as any other voter; if the applicant fails to prove his claimed identity, the PO may proceed against him for personation punishable. The PO shall, after the voter has marked and folded the tendered ballots, place it in the same condition in a separate packet bearing the label ‘tendered papers’ instead of being placed in the ballot box.

Section 86 defines the challenged ballot. It says if, at the time, a person applies for ballot paper for the purpose of voting, a candidate or his polling agent declares to the PO that he has reasonable cause to believe that person has already voted in the election at the same or another polling station, or is not the person whose name is entered in the electoral roll and undertakes to prove the charge in a court and deposits with the PO in cash a sum of one hundred rupees, the PO may, after warning the person of the consequences and obtaining on the counterfoil, his thumb impression and if he is literate, also his signature, issue a ballot paper (challenged) to the person. If the PO issues a challenged ballot to any person, he will enter the name and address of that person in a list to be prepared by him (challenged votes list) and obtain on it the thumb impression and, if he is literate, also the signature of that person.

The PO will, after the challenged ballot has been marked and folded by the voter, place it in the same condition in a separate packet bearing the label challenged papers, instead of being placed in the ballot box and shall include it in the count by him.

Section 87 defines the spoilt papers. It says a voter who has inadvertently so spoilt his ballot paper that it cannot be used as a valid ballot paper may, upon proving the fact of inadvertence to the satisfaction of the PO and returning the ballot paper to him, obtain another ballot paper and cast his vote by such other ballot paper. The PO will cancel the ballot paper returned to him, make a note to that effect on the counterfoil under his own signatures and sign the cancelled ballot paper and place it in a separate packet bearing the label ‘spoilt papers.’

The Elections Act further says that the PO will open the used ballot box(es) and count the entire lot of ballot papers taken out therefrom; open the packets bearing the labels ‘tendered papers’ and challenged ballots - and count them; and count, in such manner as prescribed, the votes cast in favour of each contesting candidate excluding the spoilt votes and the ballot papers which bear no official mark and signature of the PO; any writing or any mark other than the official mark, the signature of the PO and the prescribed mark or to which a piece of paper or any other object of any kind has been attached; no prescribed mark to indicate the contesting candidate for whom the voter has voted; or any mark from which it is not clear for whom the voter has voted.

According to Section 99, the RO will seal the “tamper-evident” bags provided to him for the purpose after putting in the bags the packets containing the ballot papers each of which shall be sealed with the seal of the PO or, if opened by the RO, with the seal of the RO; the packets containing the counterfoils of issued ballot papers; the packets containing the marked copies of the electoral rolls used in the poll; the packets containing the ballot paper account; the packets containing tendered ballots included in the count; tendered papers excluded from the count; tendered votes list, and challenged ballots included in the count; challenged papers excluded from the count; the challenged votes list; and spoilt ballots; and such other papers as the ECP may direct. Tamper-evident bag means a specially designed bag approved by the ECP, having one or more indicators which, if breached, can reasonably be expected to provide visible evidence that tampering has occurred.