islamabad -


A report of Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has made a stunning revelation, strengthening the voices of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of massive rigging in general elections, that the voter turnout at 49 polling stations of Nation Assembly constituencies was more than 100 per cent out of a sample of 8,119 polling stations throughout the country.
Based on the data gathered by FAFEN observers at polling stations showing impossible voter turnout greater than 100 per cent, FAFEN has called on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to release all polling stations’ statements of the count (Form XIV) to the public on its website before certifying any final election results in any constituency.
The voter turnout was more than 100 per cent in at least 49 polling stations out of 8,119 polling stations sampled by FAFEN across Pakistan, according to ‘Statements of the Count’ delivered so far by FAFEN, a non-government organization involved in the monitoring and observation of election process, observers.
ECP must not include votes from these polling stations in calculations of constituency election results, and should consider re-polling in these stations, the report says.
At least 32 polling stations with greater than 100 per cent turnout were in Punjab, 10 in Sindh, six in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one in Balochistan. The polling stations with impossible voter turnout figures included 19 female polling stations, 16 male stations and 14 combined (male and female) stations.
According to the report, in Punjab there are six constituencies of Lahore alone (NA-122, NA-124, NA-126, NA-127, NA-128, NA-130) where turnout was above 100 per cent at some polling stations. Similarly, above 100 per cent turnout in Punjab has been observed at polling stations in NA-52 (Rawalpindi), NA-71 (Mianwali), Na-74 (Bakkhar), NA-94 (Toba Tek Singh), NA-98 as well as NA-101 (Gujranwala), NA-105 (Gujrat), NA-115 (Narowal), NA-142 (Kasur), Na-143 as well as 147 (Okara), Na-148 as well as 152 (Multan), NA-168 (Vehari), NA-175 (Rajanpur) and NA-193 and NA 195 (Rahim Yar Khan). In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, above 100 percent turn out at some poling stations was in NA-5, NA-6, NA-7, NA-13 and NA-24. In Sindh, above 100 percent turn out at some polling stations was in NA-198, NA-200, 211, 217, 218, 226, 229, 242, 256, 257 and NA-262 of Balochistan.
The report says that voter turnout is calculated on the basis of the registered voters for each polling station as given on the ECP website. Polling stations included in the analysis are only those in which presiding officers accurately calculated the total number of ballots as recorded on the statement of the count (Form XIV).
The reports says FAFEN has recommended since 2008 that ECP should void the results from any polling station where more ballots are cast than the number of registered voters, and should investigate highly improbable cases of voter turnout, such as those greater than 80 percent. 
Best practice for election transparency requires that polling station ballot counts and vote counts should be posted as quickly as possible on the ECP website, both as scans of the original forms and in data tables that can be scrutinized.  This information was made public by ECP for the first time many months after General Election 2008, based on persistent FAFEN advocacy.