The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in ISLAMABAD has made a significant alteration to Form-45, the document used to collect results from polling stations, by including a time box alongside the date.
Presiding officers at polling places will now also note the moment the results were recorded once the form was updated. The commission is looking for feedback on the new Form-45. The deadline for submitting comments on the revised Form-45 has been extended until October 20.
If no complaints were received by October 20th, the ECP stated that the revised form would be incorporated into the rules.
The ECP issued a notification that read, “In exercise of its powers conferred by Section 239 of the Elections Act, 2017 (Act No XXXIII of 2017), the Election Commission is pleased to make the following amendment in Form-45, namely: the end of Form-45, after the word Date…………. the word time shall be inserted.”
In a second notice, the ECP said that on October 2, 2017, the Elections Act, 2017 was signed into law, and that Section 239 of that bill gave the ECP the authority to write regulations to implement the law’s goals.
Here is a copy of the aforementioned Section 239: Rulemaking Authority. For the purposes of this Act, the Commission may issue regulations by publishing a notice in the Official Gazette and on the Commission’s website. As a follow-up to paragraph (1), the document states, “(2) The commission shall make the rules under paragraph (1) subject to prior publication and after hearing and deciding objections or suggestions filed within 15 days of the publication.”
“The Election Commission framed the Election Rules, 2017 in pursuance of Section 239 ibid and notified the same on Nov 9, 2021 and thereafter, in view of different scenarios and to resolve the predicaments arisen with time, the Election Commission has carried out various amendments in rules,” the notification read.
Additional changes to Form-45 are warranted and necessary at this time. These revisions must be publicised in order to allow interested parties 15 days to file objections or suggestions, which will then be heard and decided upon by the commission in accordance with the foregoing.
The Election Commission is publishing these proposed amendments “in exercise of its powers conferred under Section 239 of the Elections Act, 2017 and all other powers enabling it in that behalf,” and it is accepting written comments on them until October 20, 2023 at the ECP Secretariat in Islamabad. The notification stated that the draught revisions would be posted to the commission’s website.
On the advice of its legal reforms committee, the ECP issued a third notice stating that it has approved the revision to Form-45 of the Elections Rules, 2017.
“It is now required to be published on website for 15 days for objections under Section 239 of the Elections Act, 2017,” it continued.
As a result, “you are requested to upload the amendment [to] Form-45 of the rules ibid on official website of Election Commission of Pakistan until Oct 25, 2023,” the notice continued.
