Why Form 45 is considered the backbone of fair elections

Officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) have highlighted the importance of Form 45 for the candidates of the February 8 general elections.

Officials said the ECP has made changes in Form 45, which is used for compiling results. According to the ECP, the date and time will also be entered into Form 45.

Form 45, commonly referred to as the “Result of the Count” form, is a crucial record in the Pakistani electoral process. It is intended to uphold openness and accountability by documenting and disclosing the outcomes of the voting procedure at a particular polling place.

Its purposes include providing a formal record of the vote results at a specific polling place. For the purpose of compiling and verifying results at the constituency level, it acts as a crucial record.

Moreover, important details on Form 45 include the polling station’s number, the name of the constituency, the total number of registered voters, the total number of votes cast, and a breakdown of the votes each candidate earned.

In an effort to promote transparency, the ECP has mandated that presiding officers post Form 45 outside voting places for public viewing. Voters, candidates, and their representatives can observe and confirm the results as a result.

Officials said no power in the world can defeat a candidate who has his polling Form 45 through rigging. Moreover, they said, many politicians who are at risk of being bullied should keep an eye on Form 45. Only the strongest polling agent can get this form.

The officials said 75 percent of polling agents of most candidates run away from polling stations without taking Form 45, because Form 45 is ready mostly after one o’clock in the night and it is filled by the presiding officer in the presence of polling agents after the counting of votes.

Moreover, Form 45 contains the result of each candidate, including which candidate has taken how many votes, and later it is signed by all staff and polling agents.

The polling officer gives as many Form 45s as the polling agents of the parties are present at that time and it is considered admissible in any court of law.

If a candidate has 150 polling stations, he has a powerful team of 150 polling agents and a nazim at the top of the team who has the phone numbers of all the polling agents. After the result, all polling agents are obliged to submit Form 45 to their nazim.

In such a situation, the candidate does not need to take his election result from the office of the returning officer because the results of all will be in his hands on Form 45.

The ECP had earlier issued a Code of Conduct (CoC) for security personnel deployed for the General Election 2024 duty and directed the chief secretary of Sindh and the IGP to strictly implement the orders issued.

It says the security personnel belonging to law enforcement agencies, excluding armed forces and civil armed forces (for whom a separate Code of Conduct is being issued), deputed on election duty shall perform their duties in accordance with the law and within the confines of mandate assigned to police or as the case may be to assist the ECP in the conduct of free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections by deploying and providing security personnel outside all polling stations. A secure environment for maintenance of law and order, security of printing presses during printing of ballot papers, security during transportation of ballot papers from printing presses to the office of returning officers will be ensured.

“Moreover, the security personnel shall provide security to the presiding officers during transportation of polling bags from the offices of returning officers to the polling stations, security during transportation of election material to the RO offices after completion of polling and counting at the polling stations till receipt of record in the offices of returning officers, during tabulation, announcement of provisional results and consolidation of results by the returning officers.

“The personnel shall perform their functions under Article 220 of the Constitution of Pakistan, Section 5 read with Section 193 of the Election Act, 2017. Each gazetted officer of the law enforcement agency shall exercise powers delegated to them through a Notification to be issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan in terms of Section 193 of Elections Act,2017. Cooperate with the concerned District Returning Officers, Returning Officers and Presiding Officers as required under section 83(4) of the Elections Act, 2017 and shall also assist Presiding Officer in smooth and effective discharge of his and her lawful duties as it is the primary responsibility of the Presiding Officer to keep order at the polling

station and may remove and cause to be removed any person who misconduct himself and herself at the polling station or fails to obey any lawful orders of the Presiding Officer.

“They shall remain impartial and neutral throughout the election process in general and during the voting process in particular and shall not act in favour of or against any political party or candidate in any manner whatsoever and render their fullest cooperation to the Presiding Officer for maintenance of order and for ensuring un-interrupted voting on the polling station.”

The personnel were also directed to display immaculate behavior in dealing with voters and polling staff, while remaining firm and just in dealing in accordance with the law while addressing any given situation.