The Election Commission of Pakistan has hinted at delaying the polls in some constituencies, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
An emergency meeting of the Election Commission was held on Wednesday in which the matter related to printing of the ballot papers was deliberated.
The ECP spokesperson said that the election in some constituencies could be delayed due to reprinting of the ballot papers. He said if the commission could not procure the special paper with security features on time, then we would be left with no other option but to delay the polls.
The spokesperson said that once the ongoing printing is done, then the printing of other sets of the same ballot papers would be done.
He further said that the ECP decided to reduce the size of the ballot papers. He said that the availability of special paper and on-time printing is a big challenge.
He said that 800 tonnes of special paper with security features was used in 2018. But this time round, due to large number of candidates contesting in elections, we needed 2,400 tonnes of paper.
He said due to reduction in the size of ballot paper, the need for required printing paper has also been slashed to 2,170 tonnes.
The spokesperson said that in 2,170 tonnes of paper, we could print ballot papers only once. But in some constituencies, the reprinting of the ballot papers has become a big challenge.
Reporter Rao Dilshad