Experts probe reasons of RTS failure on election day

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was finalizing the reasons of failure of RTS (Results Transmission System) on July 25 (Election-2018).

An official of ECP told a state-run wire service that it is an international practice that any system introduced is practiced before launching but due to shortage of time the Result Transmission System could not be tested.

He also said it was the demand of parliamentarians to launch and practice RTS in election 2018.

Now ECP was analyzing the reasons of failure of this system and share the findings with the media.

He said, for the first time an online system to share results from 85,000 polling stations around the country to the central headquarters in Election Commission of Pakistan was introduced.

The commission, he said, was investigating those complaints where results on a piece of plain paper were released instead of the ECP’s-issued Form-45. Sufficient copies of the forms were available with the commission, he added.

The RTS is an android application which enables election officers to send the results to the ECP in real time.

Nadra teams had to go to the offices of Returning Officers to activate the RTS software, and according to the ECP, the RTS software was installed in the smartphones of all Presiding Officers (PO) who were able to transmit Form 45 (containing tabulated results of the polling station) via their phone to the ECP on election day.