CEC Raja says internet outage will not affect compilation of election results; Interior Ministry assures mobile service to be fully restored shortly.
AMN / WEB DESK
Soon after the polling end for the twelfth general election of Pakistan and the biggest in the country’s history, the counting of votes has began.
The Election Commission had announced that the voting time will be maintained till 5 pm local time and said that the doors of all the polling stations will be closed at 5 pm, but the people present in the premises of the polling station can cast their votes till 5 pm.
According to Election Commission officials, the final and unofficial results will be broadcast after 6 pm.
During the general elections, the largest number of candidates in the history of the country, including 882 women and 4 transgenders, participated for 855 constituencies of the national and four provincial assemblies.
During the ongoing polling for the general elections, 12 crore 85 lakh 85 thousand 760 voters exercised their right to vote across the country.
According to the Election Commission, voters were given green ballot paper for National Assembly and white ballot paper for Provincial Assembly.
Interior Ministry on Thursday announced that mobile phone services have been partially restored in parts of the country as the nation waits for results of all-important elections 2024.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the ministry said cellular services have been restored in Bhakkar, Sargodha, Taxila, Gujar Khan Chakri, Loralai, Sibi, Jhal Magsi and all of Sindh except Malir and Karachi.
In another post, the ministry said mobile phone services would soon be restored nationwide.
Earlier in the day, the ministry said mobile phone and internet services were suspended across Pakistan to maintain law and order situation in election 2024.
“As a result of the recent incidents of terrorism in the country precious lives have been lost, security measures are essential to maintain the law and order situation and deal with possible threats, hence the temporary suspension of mobile services across the country,” the interior ministry said in a message on X.