Elections 2024: ECP issues guidelines for Form-45

With just only one day to go for general elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued instructions to the presiding officers (PO) for maintaining Form-45 after the polling process concludes, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Form 45, previously Form 14, is known as the statement of the count, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

It is supposed to show the number of valid votes for each contesting candidate and ballot papers excluded from the count. This form also includes gender-disaggregated data on the basis of male and female voters scored out from the electoral rolls in the relevant polling booths.

According to the instructions, the electoral watchdog ordered the presiding officers to prepare Form-45 without failing.

“The Form 45 must be signed with their CNIC cards, taking signatures of polling agents at the polling stations,” it said.

The presiding officers were told to ensure a brief reason in the form for refusal of signatures by the polling agents, pasting the copy of the form outside after their signatures and handing over to the polling agents.

The ECP noted that the presiding officers will be responsible for changes in the form, besides sharing photographs of the same to the returning officers (ROs).

In case of non-availability of internet facility, the presiding officers will submit the form to the ROs office in person, the ECP stated.

All is set for holding general elections in Pakistan, scheduled for February 8, 2024, with over 128 million male and female voters expected to exercise their voting rights.

According to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), 5,121 candidates are in the race for the National Assembly seats, of which 4,807 are males and 312 females. Two transgenders are also contesting the polls.

For the four provincial assemblies of Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and Balochistan, a total of 12,695 candidates are contesting for the polls, out of which 12,123 are males and 570 are women.

There are a total of 128,585,760 registered voters in the country, out of which Punjab has the most, 73, 207,896. Sindh comes second with 26,994,769 registered voters while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa third with 21,928,119 voters. Balochistan has 5,371,947 registered voters while Pakistan’s capital Islamabad has 1,083,029 voters.