The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has formally withdrawn its proposal of introducing 'none of the above' (blank) column in the ballot papers for the upcoming elections. ECP official Khurshid Alam, talking to APP on Sunday, said that the ballot paper would not contain a blank column as legislation was required for the purpose.
The Supreme Court in its verdict in the Workers Party case last year had asked the ECP to contemplate the option of introducing 'none of the above' column in the ballot paper as it was in practice in some countries.
A run-off poll is held in such countries if over 50 percent of the voters in any constituency use the "none of the above" option or their number surpasses the number of votes for the highest scoring candidate. On April 3, the ECP announced that it would include this option in the ballot papers to be used for the May 11 polls. However, later it said that since the election schedule had been announced, making such a change would be inappropriate.
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