Govt decides to continue using RTS in 2023 elections

ISLAMABAD: Despite objection from the Election Commission, the federal government has decided to continue using Result Transmission System (RTS) in the 2023 elections, while the Election Commission says that it should not be used until foolproof trials are conducted.

According to sources, if the federal cabinet approves the electoral reforms draft, RTS will continue to be used in the next elections as well. It’s important to mention that sub-sections 2 and 3, section 13 of Election Act 2017 mandate the USE of RTS during general elections.

But the ECP in its report said that in the 2018 elections, presiding officers could not use the technology properly due to hardware, software, smartphone unavailability and connectivity issues. Many presiding officers had trouble sending the collected results to returning officers. Therefore, keeping the ground realities in view, sub-sections 2 and 3 of the Election Act 2017 should be repealed, the ECP opined.