Delay in result of Islamabad constituencies: Presiding officers went home before announcing results

ISLAMABAD: The general elections’ results of two constituencies of Islamabad came after the delay of 12 and 15 hours respectively.

The reason of the delay was cited to be presiding officers’ bringing the results to their homes. The votes counting process was completed, under the supervision of security personnel, at 9:00pm in NA-52, 53 and 54 constituencies. Journalists were also permitted to witness the counting process.

The final result was compiled by the presiding officers and the Form 45 was given to the polling agents present there. Later, the presiding officers along with the polling material, ballot papers and final result reached the office of district returning officer, which was established at F-8 Model School and handed over the results to the returning officers.

The presiding officers of urban areas came early to the model school while the presiding officers of rural and remote areas reached late due to traffic jams. At least 786 polling stations were established in three constituencies of the Federal Capital.

Long queues of presiding officers were witnessed as there were only three returning officers present to collect the results which baffled the presiding officers. Due to lethargic process and long queues, some of the presiding officers slept at the mosque of model school while some of them went to their homes.

At 2:00am, the returning officers inquired about the remaining presiding officers. They were told that the remaining presiding officers had submitted the polling material but they were not present near the office. The returning officers phoned the presiding officers and directed them to submit the results at the earliest. The security personnel were also relaxing in different sections of the school. The presiding officers kept on submitting the results till 5:30am. They complained about the results collection process. At that time, no security personnel were present with the presiding officers.

After submitting the complete results of NA-52 and NA-54, District Returning Officer Sohail Nasir asked the correspondent of Daily Jang about availability of any media personnel so that results can be announced. He was told that no media person is picking up the phone. Afterwards, he gave the final and complete result to the Jang correspondent at 6:00am.

The result of NA-53 was handed over to the media at 9:00am. In NA-53, former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and PTI chairman Imran Khan were contesting.