Elections Commission (EC) on Monday stated that only black or blue ink pens should be used on the ballot papers for the September 9 election, adding that any other colored ink will be counted as an invalid vote.

Speaking during a press conference on Monday, EC Vice President Ismail Habib noted that some parties have raised concerns over a potential compromise of the anonymity of the vote. He added that since it is the commission's responsibility to ensure that all votes are anonymous, the commission had taken some decisions regarding these concerns.

"The first issue raised by the parties in the advisory committee is that some are planning to mark the ballot paper in a certain ink color. The General Election Act and the rules say that a person can only bring in an ordinary pen to the polling center. Hence the commission decided to define what an ordinary pen was,” Habib said.

Habib revealed that the commission has decided that an ordinary pen will be defined to be of either blue or black ink.

"The commission considers a black or blue pen as an ordinary pen. So if a voter brings a non-black or blue pen to the polling station, officials will consider it as not an ordinary pen. Officials will be checking the pens of those who bring their own pens,” Habib said.

He said the polling station will have a pen in the polling booth and therefore the best way is to use the pen in the booth.

A second concern raised by the parties was the issue of more than one mark on the ballot paper due to some compulsory circumstances. To resolve the issue, the Election Commission has decided to consider the ballot as invalid if there are many marks, symbols, or drawings on the ballot paper.

“In previous elections, sometimes the elderly mark incorrectly, and if they were marked incorrectly, they would correct it a second time, so the voter’s intention was to mark correctly, but if anyone takes advantage of this, it is very concerning.

Therefore, the second decision taken by the commission yesterday says that everyone can put only one mark in the direction of the name of the candidate they want," he further added.