No election rigging, mobile service shutdown affected coordination: ECP

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has denied the allegations of rigging in the 2024 general election and blamed the mobile service shutdown that caused problems for the returning officers.

No rigging

According to a statement issued by the ECP, no rigging took place in elections and that it was making immediate decisions on the complaints. “We do not deny the sporadic incidents, but there are forums for redressal,” the ECP said.

It said that the ECP had conducted the elections in a free, fair, and transparent manner, and that any allegations of rigging could be challenged in the relevant forums.

Mobile service outage caused problems

The statement said that the mobile service shutdown, which lasted for several hours on the election day, had caused problems for the returning officers.

Despite the difficulties, the poll body was able to keep the electoral process peaceful and orderly. It said that the election was a huge operation which was successfully completed and the electronic management system (EMS) worked satisfactorily in the offices of the ROs.

The ECP said that The statement said that the normal coordination and transportation were badly affected by the mobile service shutdown and the presiding officers could not send electronic data because of the mobile service shutdown.

Results delayed but fair

The statement said that the first result of the 2024 election was received at 2 am, while the first result of the 2018 election was received at 4 am the next morning. The statement said that the results of the 2024 election were completed in a day and a half, except for a few constituencies, in contrast, the results of the 2018 election took three days to complete.

 The statement said that the delay in the results of some constituencies did not benefit or harm any particular political party, and that the results reflected the will of the people.