Presiding Officers directed to ensure relevant signatures on Form 45. With the February 8 elections less than 24 hours away, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Wednesday issued directions to the Presiding Officers (PO) regarding the handling of Form 45.
Form 45, also known as the Presiding Officer’s Results of the Count, is the form that the PO is required to sign and provide with his thumb impression and signature to the polling agents.
This form records the number of votes cast in a polling station and separately mentions how many votes a candidate received from that polling station.
In a statement, the electoral body has directed the POs to ensure that Form 45 remains free from any discrepancy and mistake.
“POs [are directed] to sign Form 45 as per [their] NICs,” the ECP said, while further directing the officials to ensure that the form is signed by polling agents, and if otherwise, mention the specific reason if the latter refuses to sign or leaves the polling station without doing so.
The signed form is to be then posted outside the relevant polling station, the ECP noted.
Warning that the POs will be held responsible for any changes in Form 45, the electoral body has instructed the officials to either share the image of Form 45 with their respective Returning Officer (RO) or physically deliver it to the latter if the circumstances do not allow such due to issue in mobile networks