ISLAMABAD: Lawmakers at the Upper House of parliament on Wednesday expressed serious concern over the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP)’s reliance on the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) regarding the Result Management System (RTS), which completely failed to transmit election results electronically on the polling day.
Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Interior, the ECP director general (Information Technology) said that the RTS was solely operated and monitored by the NADRA. Committee Chairman Senator Rehman Malik asked if any agreement was signed between the NADRA and the country’s top electoral body in this regard. “How powers were delegated to the NADRA and what technology was used to transfer the data,” he questioned
The director general replied that the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) was hired for the purpose. At this, the chairman directed officials concerned to brief the committee about all the process on the next meeting on August 20 wherein it would also decide to either constitute a judicial commission or a parliamentary committee to probe alleged irregularities, including RTS collapse, alleged ouster of polling agents from polling stations, unavailability of Form 45 and dumping of stamped ballot papers.
Senator Muhammad Azam Khan Swati said that that he believed in fair, free and transparent elections and the responsibility for RTS failure must be fixed.
Senators Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Muhammad Javed Abbasi, Chaudhary Tanvir Khan, Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, Muhammad Asad Ali Khan Junejo and Muhammad Azam Khan Musakhel were also present. Besides, the meeting was also attended by interim Interior Minister Mohammad Azam Khan, interior secretary and additional secretary and senior officials from the ECP, NADRA, police and Ministry of Law and Justice.
Published in Daily Times, August 9th 2018.
