2024 Elections: What to Do If Your Vote Is Already Cast

The general elections in Pakistan are set for February 8, Thursday, with over 128 million voters ready to choose their representatives for the next five years. In the past, there were issues like rigging and technical problems that made it hard for some people to vote. Many faced a situation where someone else cast their vote.

For the 2024 polls, the Election Commission has a special rule, Section 77 of the Election Rules 2017, for “Tendered votes.” These are votes already cast under someone’s name. If your vote has been taken and you don’t have a mark on your thumb, you can use a tendered ballot paper. A Presiding Officer will take your thumb impression and signature on Form-43, and then you can stamp your ballot paper.

What to do?

In this special case, the officer will put your vote in a different envelope for tendered votes. The election team will also find the fake vote issued under your name using biometrics, and action will be taken against that person. Tendered votes will be counted separately and returned to their own bag after counting. A separate column in Form-45 shows the tally of tendered votes, indicating their impact on the overall count for each constituency.