The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is planning to do away with the Results Transmission System, more commonly known by its abbreviation RTS, for the upcoming general elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

The assemblies in both provinces were dissolved by their respective chief ministers on the instructions of PTI Chief Imran Khan and there is a strong likelihood that the provinces will go to polls earlier than the national elections.

RTS was the primary tool for the release of election results in the 2018 general elections. But there was an outcry when it stopped working midway and election results were delayed by several hours. Political parties later claimed that RTS helped rig the polls.

Now, sources have told Aaj News that the ECP has decided not to use RTS for the next general elections and instead it will rely on the Result Management System or RMS.

The electoral body will rehearse the use of RMS with mock exercises before putting it into practice in the elections. The ECP has already started training its employees in the usage of the new system.

However, even the RMS will not be used in its current form and the software will be modified, the sources said.

The ECP has already hired an IT firm for the modification which will be completed within two months.

After the modification, the RMS will be tested in byelections, according to sources.

What is RMS

RMS is a desktop computer application installed at the offices of returning officers (ROs).

“The system is an electronic form-based software where Data Entry Operators (DEOs), reporting to the RO can enter data like names of candidates, number of registered voters, name and number of polling station, number of votes cast to each candidate and can quickly generate draft forms that used to take hours to fill by hand in the past,” says and ECP introduction of the application.

The system is dependent on Form 45 received from polling stations. DEOs enter Form 45 data into RMS to generate more forms such as Form 47, Form 48, and Form 49.

What is RTS and how does it differ from RMS

RTS is a mobile application available to a presiding officer (PrO) who uses it to transmit the snapshot of Form 45 “as well as data entry of total valid votes polled in favour of each candidate” at the polling station that was supervised by them.

The result filed by PrOs could then be viewed on a dashboard view by opening it in an internet browser.

The ECP rules say that the information transmitted via RTS is “provisional” and “all consolidation and final election results wil be based on Form 45 delivered in person by PrOs.”

Hence, RTS was meant only to relay Form 45 in real-time from polling stations to ROs. Form 45 is otherwise delivered in hard copy and RTS rules also stated that the final result will be based on that hard copy.

Thus, RTS’s function never fully overlapped with that of RMS.

The RTS app was created by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), which continues to claim that RTS never failed.

However, on election night the system ‘froze’. This stopped the transmission of results from presiding officers to ROs and the final results were delayed.