Islamabad, The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has ordered its provincial election commissioners and returning officers to issue the result of general elections 2024 within the next half an hour.

The ECP added that it will suspend the returning officers if the work isn’t completed within the deadline, the electoral body said in a brief statement.

The development comes after local media reported that the returning officers have stopped issuing election results.

“The ECP has also said that people should not believe the results provided by the private media since they are not official. They are a lot of problems in the results being reported since they are not professionally compiled.

“The returning officers are compiling the results and as soon as that is complete, the election commission will officially announce the result.

“The election commission has told the relevant departments to issue the statement as soon as possible in order to provide clarity to people.”

Earlier, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) leaders Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, and Maryam Nawaz had prepared victory speeches but they left their party’s election cell in Lahore after a delay in results.

Media representatives faced strict prohibitions when approaching returning officers, hindering information flow. Despite the uncertainty, sources suggest that all results will be compiled and submitted to the Election Commission once the communication barriers are lifted.