ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which met here on Tuesday to review arrangements for the coming general elections, was told that printing of ballot papers for over 85 constituencies of national and provincial assemblies had been put on hold due to pendency of cases about the candidature in high courts.

The overall environment of the meeting, chaired by Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza, appeared to have been gloomy as it was told that the printing of ballot papers and their timely transportation to polling stations would become a critical challenge if the cases were not immediately decided, a participant of the meeting told Dawn.

However, hours after the meeting, good news started pouring in, clearly indicating that the threat of delayed polls due to pendency of cases relating to candidature is set to be over soon. Informed sources told Dawn that according to the information received by the ECP, 21 of the total 22 pending cases in Punjab had been disposed of on Tuesday.

Likewise, the Sindh High Court chief justice has issued a directive for disposal of all pending cases by Thursday. The province has the largest number of pending cases (81).

Printing of ballot papers for over 85 NA, PA constituencies put on hold, ECP told

The information had been conveyed to the ECP by the provincial election commissioners, a source said.

He said the number of pending cases in Balochistan was in single digit and all these cases would also be disposed of soon.

“We [ECP] will be able to print and transport ballot papers for all constituencies down to the polling stations across the country by July 24 — a day before the general polls,” he said.

Earlier, the meeting was told that all election material, excepting ballot papers and including ballot boxes, screens, stationery and tamper-evident bags, had been sent to all polling stations. Printing of ballot papers for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been completed, it was informed.

Different wings of the ECP briefed the commission on preparations for the elections. The commission was told that the preparations were continuing as per schedule.

The commission was also briefed on monitoring of campaigns, voters education, result management system, result transmission system, availability of voter and polling station data through SMS service, arrangements for security personnel at polling stations, facilitation of media and election observers and training of polling staff.

The commission expressed satisfaction over the preparations and renewed its pledge to hold free, fair and transparent elections as per its constitutional mandate.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2018