Time to run election campaigns ends in Pakistan

Islamabad: The time to run election campaigns has ended across the country, as soon as the election campaign ended last night at 12, no rally, procession, corner meeting will be allowed.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had allotted time till February 6 at 12 midnight to the candidates and political parties to conduct their election campaigns, which has ended. Legal action will be taken in case of violation.

Advertising of election campaigns and other written materials on electronic/print media is also prohibited after the prescribed time. All kinds of poll surveys on the media will also be banned until the election process is held.

The Election Commission said in a statement that the media can start broadcasting the polling results after one hour of the end of polling.

It will be clearly mentioned in the polling results that these results are not final and unofficial. The Returning Officers will release the progressive result and the full incomplete result of the polling stations.

Electronic and print media will strictly adhere to the Code of Conduct. Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) have been instructed to take legal action for the violation.

The Election Commission of Pakistan issued instructions to the political parties for the election day that no campaigning is allowed within 400 meters of the polling station.

Persuading voters to vote, soliciting voters to vote or not to vote is prohibited within 400 meters of the polling station. Campaigning for a particular candidate will be prohibited within 400 meters of the polling station.

Placing notices, signs, banners or flags encouraging voters to vote for a particular candidate or dissuading them not to vote within 100 meters of a polling station shall be strictly prohibited.

Polling stations in rural areas will be 400 meters away, densely populated urban areas will be able to set up their camps at a distance of 100 meters.

District Returning Officers (DROs), Returning Officers (ROs), and Police Administration will be responsible for ensuring implementation. Violation of the directive will be considered an illegal act and will be dealt with strictly according to law.

Delivery of 260 million ballot papers and other election materials to District Returning Officers across the country has been completed.

The ECP has established a control room for monitoring the general elections. WhatsApp will be used for filing complaints for the first time. The ECP spokesperson said that the Election Management System (EMS) is better than Result Transmission System (RTS) and will work both online and offline.

The preliminary results of all 859 constituencies will be released by 2:00pm on February 9. People should not pay attention to misleading propaganda on social media, added ECP.

On the other hand, the printing and delivery of ballot papers for the general elections has been completed. To keep the law and order situation under control, Pakistan Army will assume its duties from today (Wednesday).

All the arrangements have been completed by the Election Commission, a special control room has been set up in the Ministry of Interior to monitor the law and order situation and the election process.

The Election Commission spokesperson said that they want to make it clear that the RO opens and counts the postal ballots of his constituency in the presence of the candidates and election agents during the official count and these ballot papers are included in the final result.

Secretary Election Commission Dr. Asif Hussain said that all arrangements have been completed for the transparent elections scheduled on February 8. The printing of ballot papers has been completed and they have been sent all over the country.

Apart from this, Director General (DG) IT Election Commission Khizr Hayat said that the technology of EMS has been upgraded, so far, the performance of Election Management System on trials has been satisfactory.

DGIT Election Commission Khizr Hayat said that EMS has been used in elections before. The presiding officer will send the results to the returning officer through EMS, if there is any problem in the delivery of the results, the presiding officer will personally convey the results to the RO.

Khizr Hayat added that EMS will immediately detect any change in the results. Additional DG Central Control Room Election Commission Haroon Shinwari stated that till now the performance of EMS on trials has been satisfactory, all the control rooms are working 24/7, the central control room should work continuously until the results of the elections.