There have been numerous cases where the addresses of voters are different from the address mentioned in their CNICs
NANKANA SAHIB: This is apropos Imran Khan’s statement that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should take notice of the government’s interference in local government (LG) elections. He was not completely wrong in saying this because MPAs and MNAs of the PML-N made attempts to garner votes through distributing official funds. They announced huge amounts for development work in various areas for ensuring their candidates’ victory. Similarly, they conducted development work in several areas merely for manipulating election results. Such behaviour does not only represent the PML-N’s urge to win elections. This also represents the general public’s habit to associate votes with development work. For example, for a single village of Nankana Sahib an MPA of the PML-N announced Rs10 million during the election campaign.
Another issue is of the ECP being negligent when it comes to updating voter lists. There have been numerous cases where the addresses of voters in the lists are different from the address mentioned in their CNICs. Moreover, the complex procedure of the correction of voter lists has become a dilemma for the ordinary voter, who has to travel hundreds of kilometers for getting this work done. To give you an example, the ECP has put my name in the list of an area of Gulberg, Lahore, which is completely different from the address written on my CNIC. The ECP should take notice of the above-mentioned corrupt practices and deficiencies present in the voter lists. And it should introduce a messaging service for the correction of the latter.
Suleman Mansha
Published in The Express Tribune, November 10th, 2015.
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