The seizure or destruction of a ballot box at a polling station during polling is a serious electoral offence. It may also become a ground for repolling at the polling station.
What does the law say?
Section 88(1) of the Elections Act 2017 requires the Presiding Officer to stop the poll and report to the Returning Officer if the poll is so interrupted or obstructed by reasons beyond the officer’s control that it cannot be resumed during polling hours, or if a ballot box is unlawfully taken, accidentally or intentionally destroyed, lost, damaged, or tampered with to such an extent that the result at that station cannot be ascertained.
Section 88(2) provides the consequences of such eventualities. The Returning Officer immediately reports to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which then directs a fresh poll at that specific polling station — unless the Commission is satisfied that the overall constituency result can already be determined from polling at other stations.
Why does this matter?
The law’s response to box-snatching is a fresh poll at the affected station and that too if the result of the constituency cannot be determined beyond doubt without the result of that polling station. A candidate who loses a constituency and alleges box-snatching at a few polling stations cannot use those incidents to invalidate the entire result, unless the ECP determines those stations’ votes were decisive.
So, election violence leading to seizure or destruction of ballot boxes at individual stations is a serious problem that requires prosecution, but it does not automatically cancel any election in a constituency.
 Source: Elections Act 2017, Sections 88(1)–(2).
This post is part of FAFEN’s series on electoral literacy. Read more of this series here.
