ISLAMABAD / LARKANA: Two election officials have pointed out faults in the Election Management System (EMS), which will be deployed to collect and tabulate the results of February 8 general polls.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is set to use the system after claiming that the countrywide test run of EMS has been “a success”.

Abdul Qadir Mashori, the Qambar assistant commissioner (AC), and RO for National Assembly seat NA-197 (Qambar-Shahdadkot-II), and Usman Khaskheli, the Bakrani AC and RO for PS-12 (Larkana-III) seat of Sindh Assembly, have written letters to their superiors, conveying almost identical issues regarding the EMS.

Mr Mashori’s letter, which emerged on Sunday, was written to the Qambar-Shahdadkot district returning officer on Feb 3.

Qambar AC says issues with system were later rectified

When contacted, Mr Mashori told Dawn that the issues he had pointed out were later resolved and that he had conveyed the same in a follow-up letter.

Sources have confirmed that Mr Khaskheli also wrote to the Larkana DRO a letter, a copy of which is available with Dawn.

The official couldn’t be reached for his version despite repeated attempts to contact him on his mobile phone.

In his letter, Mr Mashori stated that the data regarding duties assigned to polling officials were uploaded to the EMS, which was later “found missing”.

“This weakness of [the] system has created many issues and also raises [a] question mark on the reliability and validity of the software.” The official expressed apprehension that either the system was an “utter failure” or was being “controlled” by someone.

The RO claimed that the reservations over the system have been “verbally conveyed” to the ECP and Nadra officials, but these complaints have not been rectified, with both bodies citing a “technical glitch” causing the issues.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2024

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