Elections Commission area blocked following efforts to dispose of documents

The police have blocked off access to the Elections Commission and the area around the commission, following reports of efforts to dispose of several documents related to the presidential election.

Sun Online has received information to indicate that the police initiated these efforts last night in relation to a case filed by Jumhooree Party (JP), claiming that efforts are ongoing to dispose of some documents related to the election.

Sun reporters who went to the scene found that the garbage bags in the area contained a re-registration form for the second round of the presidential election, and several documents used by ballot boxes officials in the first round.

Secretary General of the Elections Commission Asim Abdul Sattar said today that the garbage bags were about to be disposed of last night when the police requested to look through them, and that the commission complied with this request.

Asim assured that no document related to the election will be thrown away, and that ‘the necessary documents will be stored for the required duration’.

Similarly, he said that the commission would not throw away any re-registration form submitted in relation to the second round, and that all forms submitted by members of the public to the commission have been saved by the commission.

The commission took out the garbage bags containing the documents related to the election late last night.

Asim said that the Elections Commission presently works 24 hours, and that they do not take out garbage bags at a particular time.

“We worked throughout the night last night; the office was never closed. We weren’t waiting until the middle of the night to do that. We work 24 hours, including nights,” he said.