ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob has clarified that the only reason for the delay in issuance of election results is a technical fault in the newly-launched Results Transmission System, which crashed at 6pm on Wednesday when thousands of polling officers began using it at the same time.

"There is no pressure and there is no conspiracy. We have not withheld any results. The delay is due to a fault in the Results Transmission System." — Babar Yaqoob

The system was being used for the first time, and had not been tested for handling stress, he admitted.

He also clarified that the commission had so far not issued official results for any seat.

He further said that complaints from political parties regarding katchi receipts being issued instead of Form 45 were being considered and assured that action would be taken on all genuine complaints.

The Elections Act describes the punishment for those presiding officers who are found to have violated the requirement, he said when asked what measures would be taken.

Yaqoob also clarified that the ECP is busy compiling results received via scanned copies of Form 45 and had set aside the RTS for the time being to expedite the collation of polling data.