The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday said that the commission is going to respond to the allegations levelled by Imran Khan, Chairman, PTI, regarding the alleged printing of hundreds of thousands of extra ballot papers during General Elections 2013 by Provincial Election Commissioner Punjab through private printing presses located in Urdu Bazar, Lahore. This was stated by Director General (DG) ECP, Syed Sher Afghan and Mehboob Anwar, Provincial Election Commissioner Punjab while addressing a joint press conference.
They said that ECP's response is based on facts and figures on record, which can be produced when so required by any competent forum that may be appointed for the purpose of investigation into these allegations. Printing of ballot papers is highly sensitive, huge and complex process having many dimensions and therefore the ECP takes maximum possible security measures to ensure that every single ballot paper is printed and delivered to the Returning Officers in a secure manner through a detailed action plan, they added.
Giving the details of the printing of ballot papers for general elections held in 2013, they said the decision to print ballot papers for May, 2013 General Elections, was taken by the ECP in the meeting held with the authorities of the Printing Corporation of Pakistan Press (PCPP), Islamabad and Pakistan Security Printing Corporation (PSPC), Karachi on 6th and 7th September, 2012. In view of the printing capacity of each printing press, they agreed to print the following tentative number of ballot papers:
A total 180 million ballot papers were printed of which 112.5 million were printed at Printing Corporation of Pakistan Press and 67.5 million at Pakistan Security Printing Corporation. Ballot papers printed on a special non-market paper, procured by the PCPP. According to PCPP, they procured the paper from two paper mills.
The exact number of ballot papers to be printed for each constituency is communicated to the Provincial Election Commissioners by the Returning Officers concerned keeping in view the number of voters in each constituency in their respective jurisdiction and the former, in turn, sends this number to the respective printing presses. The entire record with names of the representatives of the Returning Officers along with details of exact number of ballot paper books handed over to them is available with the respective printing press, which can be produced as and when required by any competent forum that may be appointed for the purpose of investigation.
Each ballot paper book contains 100 leaves and ballot paper books of a constituency bear a continuous serial number on their counterfoils, so as to have a complete record of each and every ballot paper book. The ballot papers thus printed are handed over directly to the Returning Officer or his representatives by the respective printing presses. On receipt of ballot papers, a Returning Officer carries out 'bulk breaking' of all sensitive material including ballot papers and prepares polling station-wise invoice of the same. Thereafter, the ballot papers are put in the polling bags according to the invoices and then the bags are properly sealed and handed over to the respective Presiding Officers one day before the polls against a proper receipt.
It needs to be mentioned here that according to the allegation, extra ballot papers were printed and distributed on 9th May, 2013 in aforesaid 5 divisions of Punjab. It is a matter of record that in all the 5 divisions, almost 100% of the ballot papers had already been distributed to the Returning Officers by 9th May, 2013 who had carried out 'bulk breaking' of these ballot papers and prepared sealed bags containing ballot papers for handing over to the Presiding Officers one day before the poll ie 10th May, 2013. Therefore, it was practically impossible to print and distribute extra ballot papers to the Returning Officers for putting them into already sealed bags because, neither Returning Officers receive ballot papers in piecemeal nor are they allowed to do so under the standing instructions of the ECP.
Mahboob Anwar, PEC, Punjab, has submitted a statement to the ECP containing all necessary details, whereby he has rebutted the charges levelled against him by Imran Khan, Chairman PTI. The gist of his statement is also reproduced below. "I, Mahboob Anwar, PEC Punjab, hereby vehemently rebut the allegations leveled against me as totally baseless, frivolous and without any substance. I did my duty with clean hands. I categorically deny and state that not even a single ballot paper was got printed from any private printing press, as alleged."
In May, 2013 General Elections, for the province of the Punjab, 10,72,23,600 ballot papers were printed at PCP press Islamabad, Lahore and as well as Pakistan Security Printing Corporation, Karachi and the same were provided directly to the Returning Officers by the concerned press under proper delivery receipt, record of which is available with the respective presses.
It is worth mentioning that on 7th May 2013 the Manager PCPP Islamabad requested the PEC Punjab to make arrangements for the skilled labour for numbering of huge quantity of ballot papers otherwise it would not be possible to make delivery of the ballot papers to the Returning Officers according to the delivery plan. Therefore, the PEC office Lahore with the assistance of then Additional Chief Secretary government of the Punjab selected 122 skilled persons from local market of Lahore and Rawalpindi districts and dispatched them to the manager PCPP for utilisation of their services for the purpose of numbering the ballot papers. The PCPP hired services of some of the skilled persons and paid them remuneration for their job. The record of the PCPP press would confirm this fact.