Your Complete Guide for Election Day

General Elections are scheduled for 25th July 2018. Whether you are voting for the first time, or need to brush up on your knowledge for the polls tomorrow, you’ve come to the right place.

While casting your vote is easy, it doesn’t hurt to be better informed. Without any further delay, lets check out our simple yet detailed guide on how to cast your vote:

Check Your Polling Station

To avoid any last-minute hassles, it is better to verify your polling area and polling station. Luckily, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has an effective system for this.

• Send as SMS by typing your CNIC without dashes to 8300
• You will get all the important information like Block Code, Tehsil, District, National and Provincial Assembly constituencies and polling station

Alternatively, you can also use ECP’s official application Click ECP, which does the same along with a few other features.

Documents to Take With You

On the polling day, make sure you have your CNIC with you otherwise you won’t be allowed to vote.

National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and ECP have allowed expired CNIC holders to vote, therefore, make sure to keep your ID card with you.

Do not bring any other documents or photocopies of your ID card in the polling station. Leave your mobile phones at home because you won’t be allowed to take these with you inside the polling station.

In short, bring either your original or expired CNIC to vote.

The Timings

The official timings for casting your vote are from 8 am to 6 pm. No one will be allowed to vote before or after the allotted time.

Get to the polling station on time and once you’re in, ask someone about the voters’ list from where you will find the designated polling booth against your name.

What’s Next?

At the polling station, there will be security personnel who are there for your safety. Cooperate with them and don’t get impatient because of the security checks.

Once you know your polling booth, the polling officer will check your original CNIC and verify your identity by double checking with the photograph against the electoral roll. There will be different polling agents for the parties who will also have a list of the voters. After verifying your identity, the polling officer will call out your name so that they can tick your name in their lists. This is to avoid any instances of double voting.

Do not feel bogged down or pressurized in any way as your vote is your right and no one, except you, knows who you voted for.

Casting Your Vote

Now, the polling officer will ask you to mark a thumb impression on the electoral polls. This mark serves as a proof that you have cast your vote. He or she will also mark the non-erasable ink on your thumb.

Turn to the assistant presiding officer who will give you a green (National Assembly) and a white (Provincial Assembly) ballot paper after you put your thumb impression on their copy of the ballot papers.

Get the backs of these 4 ballot papers (2 counterfoils) signed from the official before moving to the next step as a ballot paper without a signature can be rendered invalid.

Head to the polling booth and stamp your favorite candidate’s symbol on the ballot papers. Make sure that the ink is dry before you fold the ballots. The officials will guide you on how to fold the ballot papers. Turn to the ballot boxes and slide your ballots in the respective boxes: green top is for green ballot while white is for the white ballot paper.

Note: Voters in Islamabad will only be provided with the ballot papers for the National Assembly. There are no seats for Provincial Assembly from Islamabad.

Things to Take Care of

While you are inside the polling station, no one can force you or even ask you to vote for a particular candidate or party. If someone does that, report it to the polling officer.

There are certain things which can make your vote invalid:

• ECP watermark missing on the ballot paper
• Multiple stamps on one ballot paper
• stamps equally divided on two boxes
• no official seal (nine-matrix seal)
• missing assistant presiding officer’s signature or official code mark
• anything else attached to the ballot paper

If you wrongly stamp the ballot papers, there is no going back and you will not be provided with a new ballot paper in any case. Therefore, you are advised to make up your mind well before walking into your polling station on who to vote.

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