ECP decides to include I-votes in results

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decided on Monday to include the votes cast by overseas Pakistanis in the by-poll results after a meeting with the National Database and Registration Authority.

The ECP Spokesman, Nadeem Qasim, said that the details of all the votes cast through the internet had been sent to the relevant returning officers (ROs). He explained the returning officers would add these results to their final tallies and the final results of the by-polls are likely to change. Out of 7,364 registered overseas Pakistanis votes, 6,233 polled their votes through I-voting software in Sunday's by-polls. The ECP had allowed overseas Pakistanis to vote in the by-polls on an experimental basis on the directives of the Supreme Court. The voter percentage was 83.54.

The highest percentage of vote cast was recorded in PB-53, wherein only one overseas Pakistani was registered and he had cast his vote. Quite surprisingly, in NA-35, Bannu, out of the registered 304 expats, 281 exercised their voting right and hence the turnout was 92 percent.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) again has emerged as the largest party in the by-elections by winning 15 out of 37 seats of the National Assembly and provincial assemblies, followed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which has improved its position in legislatures by pocketing 11 seats.

According to party position released by the Election Commission of Pakistan, PTI and PML-N have won four National Assembly seats each, while PML-Q has won two and MMA one seat.

On the provincial legislatures’ front, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, PTI won six out of nine seats, while Awami National Party (ANP) won two seats and PML-N one seat. In the Punjab Assembly, PML-N has won six, PTI five while independents returned on two seats.

In Sindh, PPP has bagged both the seats of provincial assembly, whereas in Balochistan Assembly, Balochistan National Party and independent have won one seat each.

The voter turnout (28.31 percent) in the eleven constituencies of the National Assembly has been lower than the one (35.71 percent) recorded in the provincial legislatures. The highest turnout was witnessed in Faisalabad’s NA-103 i.e. 48 percent and lowest 15.71 percent in Karachi’s NA-243.