In the 1970 National Assembly election, 1,084,246 votes were rejected — equivalent to 3.18% of the 34,078,311 votes polled. Combined across all five assemblies, rejected ballots totalled 1,290,497 nationwide. The National Assembly recorded the highest rejection rate; Punjab and Sindh recorded the lowest at 1.35% and 1.24%, respectively. Balochistan’s rate stood at 2.34% and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s at 1.42%.

Election Context: 1970

Pakistan’s 1970 general elections were held on 7 December 1970 under the Legal Framework Order promulgated by the military government of General Yahya Khan. They were the first elections conducted on the basis of one person, one vote — universal adult franchise — in Pakistan’s history. A total of 56.9 million voters were registered across the country. The National Assembly rejection rate of 3.18% must be read against this backdrop of a first-time mass electorate navigating an unfamiliar electoral system.

Breakdown — Rejected Ballots

Assembly Rejected Ballots Rejection Rate
National Assembly Election 1,084,246 3.18%
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Election 20,922 1.42%
Punjab Assembly Election 137,324 1.35%
Sindh Assembly Election 38,032 1.24%
Balochistan Assembly Election 9,973 2.34%

Source: TDEA–FAFEN compiled dataset from Election Commission of Pakistan records.

What Is a Rejected Ballot?

A rejected ballot is a ballot paper excluded from the vote count. Polling staff identify and set aside such ballots during the counting process at the polling station. The Returning Officer (RO) then reviews these determinations during the consolidation of results, and the ballot is formally rejected only after that scrutiny. Pakistani electoral procedure specifies four grounds for rejection: the ballot does not bear the presiding officer’s official stamp and signature; it carries any mark or writing beyond the Assistant Presiding Officer’s (APO) official seal and signature; an extraneous paper or material is attached to it; or the voting mark falls simultaneously in the boxes of two candidates in a way that makes it impossible to determine which candidate the voter intended to select.

Rejection does not automatically indicate fraud or deliberate misconduct. Voter error — including accidental double-marking or stamps placed outside the designated box — accounts for a documented share of rejections in every election.