Delay in poll results: ECP should allay candidates’ concerns, says Rehman Malik

ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Interior Chairman and Coordinator Abdul Rehman Malik, nominated by the Senate House to monitor and ensure the security of the general elections 2018, asked the Elections Commission of Pakistan to allay the reservations of the political parties regarding the delay in elections result.

He also expressed concerns over the complaints, reservations and dissatisfaction shown by some major political parties on the results of general elections held on July 25th, 2018. In his letter, Senator A Rehman Malik demanded of the Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan to clarify the following points based on complaints, objections and reservations raised by various political parties and reported in the media.

In his letter, Senator A Rehman Malik wrote that the following points were agitated in the media and were raised during the pressers of the various political parties, which needs to be addressed immediately:-

-The cause of delay in elections results

-The failure of Result Transmission System (RTS) and Result Management System (RMS), which remained out of order for a considerable time creating doubts in the minds of the public.

-Was there any guarantee given by the Service Provider for accurate functioning of the RTS/RMS systems?

-Has the technical team, the service provider and the IT Department of the ECP evaluated or detected any hacking or virus attempt on the RTS/RMS systems?

-Is the responsibility being fixed against those who were accountable for uninterrupted, non-stopped and smooth functioning of the RTS/RMS systems?

-How many incidents were reported to ECP regarding non-provision of Form-45 to the polling agents as agitated almost by all political parties?

-How many cases were reported regarding ousting of the Polling Agents from the Polling Stations during counting of the votes?

-The failure of communication of results in the given mandated time as earlier announced by the ECP.

Senator A. Rehman Malik wrote that the Senate Standing Committee on Interior in its meeting held on 19th July, 2018 had already expressed its apprehensions on the proper, uninterrupted and smooth functioning of RTS and RMS systems and its back up system.

The chairman Senate said he had particularly questioned the Election Commission of Pakistan about these systems protection against virus, hacking and external intervention and interruption and also about its smooth functioning on the day of elections.

Senator Rehman Malik wrote that the Committee had asked the ECP to ensure protection, hacking and virus free mechanism for RTS/RMS systems.

Senator A. Rehman Malik added “The above complaints came out to the public and it has fetched the public importance. The chairman of the Committee has desired that a detailed report on the above queries with clarity and factual position be submitted for information of the Committee, Senate House and for general public,” the letter stated.