ISLAMABAD, May 6: Though it has become meaningless for May 11 elections, a revised draft ordinance is ready to allow overseas Pakistanis to cast their votes while living out of the country.

Informed sources told Dawn that the previous draft ordinance was based on manual procedure of voting and the amended one on e-voting system due to paucity of time. But some provisions of the draft make it impossible to allow overseas Pakistanis to vote this time even if the ordinance is promulgated by the president forthwith.

Under the first draft, polling day for the expatriates was to be fixed at least seven days before polling day in Pakistan and polling stations abroad were to be established at least 14 days ahead of polling day in the country, in countries specified by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The fresh draft leaves it to the ECP to decide polling day or days abroad without fixing any deadline. But, it reduces the time for establishment of polling stations abroad from 14 to 10 days before polling day in Pakistan.

Under the draft ordinance, the commission will establish polling stations with as many polling booths as necessary on the premises of the country’s diplomatic missions or any other public place, provided the Ministry of Foreign Affairs obtains consent of a host country.

The commission will appoint one presiding officer for each poling station and one assistant presiding officer for each polling booth from officials of the federal government or autonomous bodies, preferably posted abroad.

The countrymen living abroad and having national identity card for overseas Pakistanis and machine-readable passports will have to register themselves as voters at diplomatic missions where they intend to cast their votes. A Pakistani living abroad will not be entitled to vote if he is not registered as a voter in any constituency in Pakistan or seeks registration on the basis of his card of Pakistani origin.

Presiding officer will allow a voter to cast his e-vote after being satisfied about his identity. He will have to enter in the e-voting system the number of his overseas Pakistani card, provide left thumb impression through thumb digitiser and after identification through thumb impression matching will select candidate of his choice on e-voting screen, take out a paper trail generated by e-voting system, fold and insert it in the ballot box.

The commission will appoint as many independent monitors as necessary at a polling station abroad to ensure conduct of free, fair and transparent elections.

At the conclusion of the polling, constituency-wise unofficial results generated by the e-voting system will be automatically faxed to returning officer concerned. The constituency-wise paper trails in separate temper-evident bags, with statements of counts signed by presiding officers and monitors, will also be sent to returning officers through diplomatic bags, before consolidation of results.