Presidential Elections

Presidential Elections

In Pakistan, Second agenda of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan endow for election to president of Pakistan. According to which, before one month to cessation of president term, it is the duty of the ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan) to hold and perform election for the President and CEC (Chief Election Commissioner) shall be the Returning Officer for such election. Likewise, ECP assign Presiding Officers to supervise at the meeting of the affiliates of Parliament and at the convention of the associates of the Provincial Assemblies.

The CEC by open announcement fixes the venue for submission of nomination papers, holding an inquiry, making abandonment, if any, and holding the poll, if obligatory. Any affiliate of the Parliament or of a Provincial Assembly may propose an individual entitled for election as President, by conveying to the Presiding Officer a nomination paper, signed by himself as proposer and by another component of the Parliament or, as the case may be Assembly as secondary, mutually with a declaration signed by the individual nominated that he assent to the nomination.

After inspection, CEC announces, by open announcement, the names of the individual genuinely nominated, to be hereinafter called the candidate(s). According to the constitution of Pakistan, Article 41, President’s Electoral College consists of members of both Houses i.e. Senate and National Assembly and constituent of Provincial Assemblies. The particular Presiding Officers perform the poll at the congregation of Parliament and of each Provincial Assembly. The poll is held by secret ballot listing the names of all the candidates in alphabetical order. An individual place his votes by marking against the candidate for whom he/she wishes to vote.

later than, CEC find out the end result of the election in the following manner, namely:

(a)   the number of votes cast in the Parliament in errand of each candidate shall be counted;

(b)   the number of votes cast in a Provincial Assembly in errand of each candidate shall be multiplied by the total number of seats in the Provincial Assembly for the time being having the smallest number of seats and divided by the total number of seats in the Provincial Assembly in which the votes have been cast; and the vote is counted by following formula:

 (No. of Votes obtained by candidate in PA × lowest No. in PAs (65 being lowest))/Total members of relevant provincial Assembly

In this formula, each province has an equal share of vote in President’s Electoral College. That shows that the each constituent of the Punjab Assembly has 65/371 = 0.175 votes, each member of the Sindh Assembly has 65/168 = 0.387 votes, each member of the NWFP Assembly has 65/124 = 0.524 votes and each member of the Baluchistan Assembly has 65/65 = 1 vote.

(c)  the number of votes calculated in the manner referred to in clause (b) shall be added to the number of votes counted under clause (a).The candidate who has obtained the largest number of votes compiled in the manner specified above is declared by the CEC to be elected.