PTI demands Senate probe into RTS 'failure'
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday demanded that a probe be carried out to ascertain the causes behind the alleged failure of the Results Transmission System (RTS) on election day.
In a call-to-attention notice submitted to the Senate Secretariat, PTI Senator Azam Khan Swati has asked for an investigation to be launched to fix responsibility of the alleged malfunction of the RTS system on July 25.
Swati has recommended that the inquiry also ascertain whether the alleged failure had an impact on the election results.
"Throughout the day, the election process was carried out in a fair and transparent manner. How is it that at the time of transmitting the results, the system stopped functioning?" the PTI leader has questioned in the notice.
Furthermore, he has demanded a probe into the parties responsible for the system's supposed malfunctioning and urged that the Senate be apprised of the investigation's findings.
Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had ordered an inquiry into the RTS fiasco.
In a letter written to the Cabinet Division secretary, the ECP directed him to constitute an inquiry commission consisting of technical experts from the National Telecommunication and Information Technology Security Board (NTISB) and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to probe into the RTS episode during the conduct of polls on July 25 and afterwards.
Meanwhile, both the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have called the proposed inquiry commission on the RTS a mere eyewash, claiming that its terms of reference (ToR) are vague and fall short of addressing the core issue — did the system really crash or not?