UNDP defends ECP on Result Management System

ISLAMABAD: Defending the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the Result Management System (RMS), the UNDP says the commission has developed and implemented the system with its support.

The system is being utilised for the results being posted on the ECP website. The RTS choked on the elections night causing undue delay in announcement of results. PTI’s candidate from NA-190 PTI leader Zulfiqar Khosa who was earlier declared a winner due to a glitch in the RMS was declared unsuccessful after the fault was removed.

The News mailed written questions to the UNDP office (United Nations Development Program) in Pakistan about the result management. The replies received on Saturday said results from the returning officer (RO) were received using a hybrid paper/electronic system.

All official results (whether provisional, consolidated or final forms 47, 48 and 49 respectively) were on paper stamped and signed by the RO. To manage electronic preparation and to assist in preparing forms, the RO is supported by two electronic systems Result Management System and Result Transmission System.

The RMS is a computer application installed at the office of RO. The system is an electronic form based software where Data Entry Operation (DEO) reporting to the RO can enter data like names of candidates, number of registered voters, name and number of polling stations, number of vote cast to each candidate and can quickly generate draft forms that used to take hours to fill by hand in the past. Then the RO requests the DEO to generate forms by entering data from form 45 and generates form 47 for the RO. The consolidated forms are then scanned back into RMS and transmitted to the ECP and Provincial Election Commission and finally published on the ECP website.

The RMS enables the ECP to compile complete results of elections electronically so that the result is easily verifiable and auditable. Explaining the RTS, it was stated that as provided in the Election Act, a presiding officer using a mobile app may transmit snapshot of form 45 as well as data entry of total valid votes polled in favor of each candidate from that polling stations.

Asked as to who provided the RMS and RTS to the ECP, the UNDP spokesperson replied that the ECP developed and implemented RMS with support from the UNDP. The RMS is currently being utilized by the ECP for the results being transmitted on its website. The ECP, with support from NADRA, developed and implemented RTS.

Asked what actually caused its failure on the election day, the UNDP replied that the RMS was working as tested and planned for; the ECP election results on its website are through the ECP’s Results Management System (RMS). Asked if responsibility will be fixed, the written reply states that the RMS was currently being utilized by the ECP for the results being transmitted on its website.