The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to submit proposals for a mechanism enabling overseas Pakistanis to vote in by-polls. A three-member apex court bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, called for such a mechanism to be ready before Eid. ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob requested that overseas citizens be allowed to exercise their right to vote in a limited number of constituencies. The bench rejected the plea and said their right must be extended to all constituencies but that the votes should be separated as done with postal ballot papers. When asked about the delay in results of the 2018 general election, Babar said that the Result Transmission System (RTS) had not stop functioning, but had slowed down on election night as a result of overload when results from 85,000 polling stations were being uploaded simultaneously. The case was adjourned till August 15. Published in Daily Times, August 10th 2018.