The Election Commission of Pakistan has recently amended electoral materials for approximately 41 national and provincial assembly constituencies, sparking controversy.
As reported by Dawn News, the Election Commission updated Form 45, stored on the Commission’s official Google Drive. The report did not specify the details of these amendments. However, the fact that the Commission made these updates several months after the election has sparked numerous questions about the motives and transparency behind these changes.
The report also highlighted that the initial trigger for these changes might have been discovering that certain forms were missing from the Election Commission’s website. Although the Commission initially dismissed these claims as baseless, further investigations revealed that as of July 3, Form 45 for 14 provincial constituencies in Lahore was unavailable online, with Form 46 uploaded instead.
After the media highlighted the absence of over 50 instances of Form 45 for the Lahore constituency NA-125 on July 3, the Election Commission swiftly began uploading the missing forms for NA-125 and the 14 other affected provincial constituencies on July 4 and 5.
Additionally, the Commission expanded its updates beyond Lahore, revising electoral data and Form 45 for 26 additional national assembly seats across Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Notably, the Commission implemented these revisions in constituencies such as NA 99, NA 101, NA 103, and NA 104 in Punjab, where PML-N candidates lost to PTI supporters.
The Commission also made further modifications in other areas, updating forms for NA 118 and NA 121 in Lahore and NA 136, NA 138, and NA 183 in Okara and Taunsa, respectively.
These changes have opened a “Pandora’s box” regarding the election results, leading to heightened scrutiny and debate over the integrity of the electoral process. Currently, the Election Commission has not provided a detailed explanation for these amendments, leaving room for speculation and concern about the implications of these actions on the fairness of the elections.
