General election: probe into failure of RTS under way, SC told

The Supreme Court on Thursday noted the Result Transmission System (RTS) crashed in the general election 2018. But Secretary ECP Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad informed that 85,000 polling stations were set up for the seats of national and the provincial assemblies. For two days they had trained 82,000 polling officers as to how to use Apps designed for transmission of the result to the Election Commission of Pakistan.
Babar said they were holding an inquiry why the RTS failed on the Election Day. He told that notifications have been issued, while the by-elections on 50 seats of national and provincial assemblies will be held between 15 and 20 October.
The secretary informed that Rs 200 million were spent for conducting on election in one constituency, while Rs 20 billion were spent on the general election.
A three-judge SC bench had taken up a set of petitions moved by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and a group of citizens on behalf of Solicitor Muhammad Dawood Ghazanvi, Farhat Javed and others pleading that the denial of right to overseas Pakistanis to participate in the democratic process would mean refusal by the government to carry out its constitutional obligation.
The Chief Justice said right of voting to overseas Pakistanis would be the first drop for the democratic rights to Pakistanis living abroad. The Chief Justice directed the secretary ECP to submit the report in writing before Eid about the mechanism which had been developed for granting voting right to overseas Pakistanis.
The Chief Justice observed that overseas Pakistanis could not be given voting right in the general election. He said if the people can vote through postal ballots then voting right to the overseas Pakistanis could also be granted in the by-elections.
The Chief Justice said they had passed the order for voting right to the overseas Pakistanis and it should be implemented. Secretary ECP Babar Yaqoob said: "We are bound to implement the order. We shall propose this in the by-elections, which will be held on 50 seats of national and provincial assemblies."
The Chief Justice said in case of failure of the digital system in by-election, the votes of overseas Pakistanis could be separated as the ECP does with the postal ballots. If there is no issue then add them in the overall figures. Justice Ijazul Ahsan inquired how much time is required to deploy the system for voting of overseas Pakistanis. The chairman Nadra informed that they have to give time for registration of the overseas Pakistanis' voters. He said on average 29,000 overseas voters are estimated for a National Assembly seat.
Justice Ijaz said it is a significant number of voters as the winning margin in the general election was 600 to 1,000. He said as it will be digital system for overseas Pakistan; therefore, it would have to be used carefully. The Chief Justice said if there is problem in the electronic system then there should be manual system in place.