To what extent a commissioner is involved in electoral process?

KARACHI: Startling claims by Rawalpindi Division Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatha of abetting large-scale electoral rigging within the garrison city has thrown shade on the polls outcome because the nation already faces uncertainty relating to the federal government formation.

“We transformed the losers into winners with 50,000 votes margin,” Chatha acknowledged whereas taking accountability for the alleged tampering of the polls ends in a uncommon press convention.

Nonetheless, authorities say {that a} commissioner has no function to play within the electoral course of.

Joint Provincial Election Commissioner Sardar Nazar Abbas advised Geo.television that the commissioner has no involvement within the electoral course of.

The commissioner, he famous, simply has to facilitate the Election Fee of Pakistan (ECP) on an administrative stage, for instance, offering transportation to the officers deputed because the returning officers (ROs) or the assistant returning officers (AROs).

This, too, is in case the ECP’s ropes within the commissioners for administrative affairs, in any other case, they’ve completely no participation within the electoral course of.

As for the hierarchy within the electoral course of, the ECP is the topmost authority, whereas the subsequent in line are the provincial election commissions, the district returning officers (DROs), ROs, and AROs.

There are two to 3 AROs working below the RO, who report back to the DRO, who’s direct with the provincial election commissioner.

The presiding officers are answerable for the preparation of Kind-45, which includes the outcomes of a single polling station, whereas the ROs are answerable for getting ready Kind-47s — which complies outcomes of a constituency primarily based on Kind-45.

Not even the DROs are concerned within the compilation of ends in the Kind-47s, Abbas stated. Therefore, there’s “no interference” of a commissioner within the electoral course of, he defined.

Following the bombshell presser, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which secured a landslide victory within the division, additionally stated the commissioner has no function in outcome compilation, whereas different main events demanded an investigation into the allegations.