
<p>The minutes of the 2nd meeting of the UK PTI Election Commission Committee that took place at 4 pm on Saturday 20th June 2009 at the residence of Sahibzada Jahangir.<br />  <br /> Present<br /> -------<br />  <br /> Sahibzada Jahangir   (SJ) (Election Commissioner)<br /> Mr. Shahid Dastagir  (SD) (Secretary of the Commission)<br /> Mr. Mahtab Aziz       (MA) (Friend of Mr. Dastagir attending as observer)<br /> Mr. Aamer Rana       (AR) (Member)<br /> Mr. Irfan Shafi         (IS) (Member)<br /> Mr. Khurram Naeem  (KN) (Member)<br />  <br /> Absent<br /> -------<br />  <br /> Mr. Anwar Khokhar  (without notice)<br /> Mr. Akram Dhareja   (In Pakistan)<br />  <br /> SJ started the proceedings by welcoming everyone to his home and thanking all for finding time to attend the 2nd meeting of the election commission. SJ informed that he had detailed telephone conversation with Dr Alvi and he once again, made it clear to Sect.Gen that the election Commission or any member of the Commission will not accept any membership lists from anyone. All lists should be sent to Secty.Gen. Therefore following resolution was reached with agreement from all present in the meeting:<br />  <br /> 1. (a)  All membership lists should be consolidated by the Secty.Gen ASAP<br />    (b)  All those names without payment will be rejected and those who are the paid   members and validated by Secretary Finance PTI as only he has the access to both the accounts and only that list should be sent immediately to election commission by the Secty. General<br />     (c)   Upon receipt of such list of the paid members, the EC will then scrutinize, establish the genuine members and reject the bogus. Thus a final list will be prepared by the election commission which then will be forwarded to the contesting candidates. The criteria set for validation of members by EC is as follows:<br />  <br /> The criteria for members validation<br /> (i)  Full postal address<br /> (ii)  valid e-mail and mobile telephone number<br /> (iii)  Or multiple people living in the same postal address will be required to prove their identification by means of utility bills, driving licence etc.<br />  <br /> (d)  Once the complete list of paid membership has been received from the Sect. General then the EC will immediately without wasting any time will scrutinize the list and forward it to the contesting candidates<br />  <br /> (All committee members were in full agreement to the above)<br />  <br /> 2. Announcement of Elections<br />  <br /> SD proposed the election dates to be advertised in the Pakistani newspapers i.e. Daily News, Jang and The Nation, failing which, he expressed the opinion that the whole process is fundamentally flawed and he feels the elections cannot be completed in the required time.<br />  <br /> AR did not agree with SD arguments as advertising in the newspapers will involve at least over £1000 and collecting these funds from the prospective candidates and having them transferred to the relevent account will take lot of time. Therefore he proposed all announcements of elections be put on the PTI website.<br />  <br /> IS and KN agreed with AR and further argued that since the election commission will have the validated electoral list of the members, then each one of them can be informed via SMS or email. May be a very small margin of people may not have those facilities then they can be informed via postal mail.<br />  <br /> SJ agreed with SD that the desired scenario should have been that the election commission have 3 to 6 months and substantial funds in hand to carry out the normal election process, but in view of the fact, that we are following a mandate issued via notification from the Secty General and ISC, therefore, there are limitations and we must rise to the expectations of the ISC and ensure that the election process is completed within the time table given to us.<br />  <br /> However, SJ agreed with AR, IS and KN proposal of informing the eligible voters through SMS and email as well as putting it on the PTI website. ( The resolution was passed)<br />  <br /> 3.  Nomination of the contesting candidates<br />  <br /> (Following resolution was passed and agreed by all present)<br />  <br /> (a)  The contesting candidates for the post of the President must send their letter of intent alongwith the name of the one proposer and two seconders. The criteria as follows:<br />  <br />        (i) The contesting candidates to be a paid PTI member for at least 6 months<br />       (ii)  The proposer and the seconders to be PTI paid members<br />  <br /> (b)  The contesting candidates must send their letter of intent by registered mail addressed to Sahibzada Jahangir, Chief Election Commissioner, PTI, at 11A Harrington Road, South Kensington, London SW7 3ES. (SJ business address).<br />  <br /> 4.  Mechanics of voting<br />  <br /> SD said he has no idea of electronic voting and proposed that physical voting should take place, with 3 polling stations, one in London, one in midlands and one in the north, with having proper ballot papers printed having a seal of Chief Election Commissioner and appointing presiding officers and arranging for security.<br />  <br /> AR, IS & KN said that we are not ready nor can be be ready by next year to organise physical form of voting due to lack of funding and lack of human resources. Therefore, the only sensible and acceptable solution is electronic voting. The procedure for which is as follows:<br />  <br />        (i)  Election Commission to set up a new email address<br />       (ii)  Voters who wish to vote by email will do so, by sending an email from their<br />             validated email address to the EC email address casting his vote alongwith <br />             his / her full name, postal address and mobile telephone number.<br />      (iii)   Election Commission will buy an SMS package for the purpose of receiving <br />             electronic votes by SMS<br />      (iv)  Voters who wish to vote by SMS will do so by sending a SMS from their<br />             validated mobile phone number to EC SMS package number alongwith their<br />             full name, postal address and email address<br />      (v)   Voting to take place on 5th of July 2009 (Sunday) from 7am - 8pm London time<br />      (vi)   All votes received shall be counted next day in the presence of an <br />             independent auditor who will be hired by the EC and immediately after that<br />             the election result will be announced by CEC<br />   <br />  5.  Full committee agreed that these minutes should immediately be put on the PTI website for everybodys information and knowledge.<br />  <br /> In the end, SD contented that he may have difference of opinion on the election process, but nonetheless, he paid glorifying tributes to all the committee members for their dedication, honesty and hard work especially he was full of praise for SJ leadership. The meeting ended in excellent spirit and goodwill and promised to stand united in seeing these elections successfully through.<br />  <br /> The minutes were signed by all participants.</p>