KARACHI, Oct 9: The Election Commission has streamlined the counting procedure so as to remove any apprehensions of manipulation at the counting level by making it obligatory on the part of the presiding officer to issue a copy of his/her signed results to the polling agents present.

The results of the polling stations would show the number of votes obtained by each candidate and other details regarding challenged, tendered and rejected votes which were cast at the polling stations to the polling agents present.

According to procedure, initial counting would be held at the polling station by the presiding officer in the presence of the candidates’ polling agents. After the counting result of the polling stations are announced by the presiding officer, a copy would be posted outside the polling station and a copy would be provided to the polling agents’ present.

The presiding officer would send a copy to the returning officer concerned, where tabulation of the votes would be carried out and the results would be announced.