Islamabad: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has urgently requested Rs 18 billion from the government as it is facing difficulties in terms of funds for the upcoming general elections.
The commission’s budget is pending before the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet.
Preparations for the upcoming general elections have entered the final stages.
According to sources, the commission has sent its revised demand for funds to the government.
The ECP has sought Rs 18 billion for pre-election preparations, but its budget is still pending in the ECC.
The Commission is facing difficulties in preparing for the elections due to pending funds.
Sources say that the ECP has sent its demand to the Finance Ministry and the ECC.
The commission has asked them to provide 18 billion rupees within a few weeks for the purchase of election materials.
ECP has demanded Rs 47 billion from the government for the upcoming general elections.
Of this amount, 27 billion rupees will be received in the current financial year.
The commission will get the remaining Rs 20 billion in the next financial year.
The process of procurement of materials for the elections is in progress while the process of delimitation of new constituencies has also been completed.
The polling staff information has been prepared by updating the electoral rolls.
Data on how many polling stations will be required and where they will be located has also been compiled.
Sources say that preparations for the training of election staff have also been completed.
A strategy for the use of Results Management System (RMS) has also been developed.
RMS is a computer application installed in the office of the Returning Officer (RO). The system is an electronic form-based software where Data Entry Operators (DEOs), reporting to the RO, enter data such as names of candidates, number of registered voters, name and number of polling stations, number of votes cast for each candidate. can do Quickly create draft forms that in the past took hours to fill out by hand.
DEOs are highly trained staff who assist ROs. The RO requests the DEO to enter the data in the form, and prepare further forms from it (for example, Form 45 is data entered, and Form 47 can be drafted for the RO). .
The collected forms are then scanned again in the RMS, then forwarded to the ECP or Provincial Election Commission headquarters.
They are then published on the Commission’s website.
According to ECP sources, the list of ROs and their deputies and their details have also been completed.
