NADRA starts auto-registration of voters

CEC evades queries regarding challenges to hold polls on time

ISLAMABAD: The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has started automatically registering those for voting who are applying for new computerised national identity cards (CNIC).

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (Retd) Sardar Raza inaugurated this service along with a new NADRA centre in Islamabad.

Section 25 of the Election Act, 2017 states that when applicants register for a new CNIC, they will be asked if they want to register their vote against their temporary or permanent address.



NADRA has developed software which will automatically geo-tag the address as per the applicants directions. This information will then be passed on to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The CEC lauded NADRA’s efforts, deeming this step an important one in creating transparent electoral rolls. He also said that since the introduction of identity cards in 1973, the auto-registering of voters is one of the most significant steps taken by NADRA.

Replying to a question, Raza confirmed that elections will be held on time. However when asked about the challenges currently faced by the ECP during the preparations for the next general elections, he politely evaded the questions, answering with “No comments.”



ECP came under fire in the senate when the chairperson asked the law minister how the ECP is criticising the parliament for a delay in passing a constitutional amendment on delimitations. He also indirectly asked the ECP to refrain from approaching the Supreme Court over the delay in passing the amendment, while adding that it is the parliament’s prerogative to make decisions on legislation.

The ECP gave the government a November 10 deadline for passing an amendment to the constitution which would give legal cover to demarcating constituency boundaries, on the basis of the provisional population census results, thus allocating seats to the federating units accordingly.

Under the current law, the ECP can only carry out delimitations after the final, official results of the census. Another provision states that elections should only be held with new delimitations after a census has been conducted.



Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the census conducting body, says its final results will be ready by April next year. ECP on the other hand, is bound to complete election preparations four months prior to the polls.

Last week, the government tabled a constitutional amendment bill in the National Assembly. It suffered from controversy when opposition parties said they will only render their support if the government addresses the apprehensions of provinces at the Council of Common Interest (CCI). The CCI meeting is now scheduled for Monday.