ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued guidelines for presiding officers (POs) about conducting by-election in NA-249 (Karachi) constituency on April 29.

The ECP has asked the presiding officers to send pictures of Form-45 in the presence of polling agents of the contesting candidates to the returning officers. It directed them to keep the location of their smartphones on while taking the picture.

The commission has also directed the POs not to wait for submission of the results if the network is down, and pointed out that in such a case they should immediately reach the returning officer’s office and submit the polling record.

The ECP has directed them to supply signed copies of Form-45 to the polling agents. It has also asked polling agents not to leave the polling stations without obtaining copies of Form-45.

The NA-249 seat had fallen vacant after Faisal Vawda of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf resigned over his dual nationality controversy and became a senator.

Mr Vawda had defeated Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president Shehbaz Sharif in the 2018 general election.

Earlier this week, the Sindh government had requested the ECP to postpone the by-election until the third wave of coronavirus infections subsided.

In a letter to the commission, the provincial government had stated that the number of coronavirus cases was rising in Hyderabad and Karachi. “The daily situation reports of last week show a remarkable increase in positivity percentage rising from 3 per cent to 7.8pc.”

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2021