ISLAMABAD: As mystery shrouds many aspects of the magnetised ink fiasco from the 2013 general elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday claimed it had delivered the ink to the returning officers (ROs).

“The Election Commission was responsible for delivery of the magnetised ink – prepared by PCSIR in accordance with the specifications recommended by Nadra – to the returning officers and it fulfilled its obligations,” the ECP said in a statement.

Read: ECP rejects allegations about ballot paper, ink

An affidavit reportedly submitted by Nadra Director General Syed Muzaffar Ali before an election tribunal stating that the ECP had used the ink, which was rejected by Nadra during the general elections, apparently prompted the statement by the ECP.

“As a matter of fact, the ECP used the ink duly recommended by Nadra vide their communication dated Sept 12, 2012 and the Nadra DG has already admitted his ignorance of the fact in a meeting held on Sept 26, 2014 by the full commission in ECP’s Secretariat, Islamabad,” the statement reads.

Also read: ECP, PCSIR trade charges over ink quality

Explaining the ‘truth’ about the magnetised ink, the ECP said Nadra specifications for magnetised ink had been communicated to the PCSIR. The PCSIR confirmed that they had manufactured the ink in accordance with the specifications and that the same was delivered to provincial election commissioners, who confirmed receipt of the magnetised ink and its delivery to all returning officers, it said.

The then-Nadra chairman had disclosed in October 2013 that magnetised ink was essential for biometric verification of voters but had not been used in two National Assembly constituencies of Karachi during the general elections held in May 2013.

Also read: ECP blames ROs for election mess

The disclosure made during a meeting of the ECP prompted then-acting Chief Election Commissioner Tassaduq Hussain Jilani to agree to the idea of holding a thorough inquiry into the ink fiasco after the verdict of the election tribunal in cases challenging the elections in NA-256 and NA-258.

It is still a mystery whether the magnetised ink was sent to the polling stations in the two constituencies or whether it was replaced in collusion with polling staff to frustrate the plan to track down those involved in electoral fraud.

A source privy to the development said Nadra had submitted a proposal in July 2012 to the ECP to purchase magnetised ink if thumb impressions on voters’ lists were to be verified. The properties of magnetised ink and inkpad proportion had been mentioned in the proposal.

The ECP sent two samples to Nadra for testing on July 24, 2012. On July 27, Nadra reported that none of the samples met the requirements.

On Sept 10, the ECP sent more samples received from the PCSIR. On Sept 12, Nadra replied that one sample had passed the test and recommended that this ink should be used in elections. On Dec 14, the ECP sent Nadra another sample. It replied on Dec 24 that it had failed the test and recommended that the sample sent on Sept 12 be used. On Feb 4, 2013, the ECP sent 10 more samples for analysis and Nadra replied on Feb 6 that all of them had failed the test.

The authority recommended a meeting with the ink supplier at ECP premises to convey and finalise the requirements.

In the first week of March, a meeting was held at the ECP where Nadra informed the commission and PCSIR about the required properties of the ink and inkpads. It also once again stressed that the sample that had passed the test on Sept 12 the year before should be used.

The properties recommended to the ECP were that the ink should dry quickly, should not be smudged by overlapping of paper, should be skin-friendly, easy to extract data and its viscosity, surface tension, specific gravity and shade on paper should be controlled. The inkpad should provide constant flow of ink, create high quality and non-smear/clumping impressions, have good quality absorbent material saturated with ink to transfer ink evenly to a thumb and on applying stress absorbent material, there should be zero deformation in shape.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2015

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