Gender deficit in voters’ registration

The electoral rolls of September 2017 indicate that there are 12.17 million fewer women registered as voters as compared to men. Of a total of 97.02 million citizens registered as voters, 54.60 million are men (56.27%) and 42.42 million are women (43.73%). The gap between male and female voters increased from 10.97 million in 2013 to 12.17 million in 2017, suggesting that the issue is deep-rooted and requires extraordinary efforts to address it.

Talking of civil society’s efforts since 2010, the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) has claimed to have facilitated more than 440,000 citizens, overwhelmingly women, in acquiring their NICs and becoming voters. A discussion on the issue at Fafen has revealed that it has already provided the ECP lists of unregistered women who have been facilitated for NIC registration for verification and avoidance of duplication of efforts.

Fafen’s methodology is based on the census block-wise voter registration data acquired from the polling schemes used for the 2013 election. A census block/electoral area — the smallest unit of the population — comprises 200 to 250 households. Fafen proposes to reach out to more than 1.8 million unregistered women to list, motivate and facilitate them to apply for NIC registration. Concrete efforts are required to lower the number of women who will potentially be disenfranchised from the 2018 general elections.

It is also said to be engaging with NADRA’s regional and local centres to facilitate registration of women across the country through separate windows — National Registration Centres (NRCs), provision of Mobile Registration Vans (MRVs) and registration camps outside NADRA offices. However, it is facing several challenges in coordinating with NADRA in some areas which is affecting the overall pace of the registration. NADRA’s NRCs do not have the facility to cater to a large number of citizens. Many women cannot be facilitated at these centres due to a lack of separate windows.

NADRA officials need departmental approvals before engaging with Fafen mobilisers. In some cases, the approvals take time and facilitation does not take place soon enough. The civil society’s facilitation to first-time women applicants around NADRA centres in the form of camps can be very helpful. However, it remains a challenge to seek permission from NADRA for such camps.

Given the sensitivity and time constraints as voter registration will end in April 2018, Fafen has recommended that all stakeholders should take up the issue at their relevant forum. The success of the campaign depends on a larger social and political involvement and action. Parliamentarians, political parties and women caucuses should raise the issue in Parliament and at other relevant forums. This will greatly help lessen the ever-growing deficit between male and female registration.

Media should highlight the gravity of the issue to make state institutions respond to the issue in the context of upcoming General Elections 2018. It would be advisable for NADRA to increase working hours in districts with higher rates of under-registration declaring Saturdays a working day for all NRCs until April 2018. At the same time it should enhance MRVs capacity to process NICs (50 a day), coordinate MRV schedules with CSOs locally, ensure all NRCs issue free NICs to first-time registrants, consider and using existing government infrastructure to improve outreach.

Also administrative rules of NADRA may be amended to provide for allocation of special days and counters/windows for fresh registration of women at NRCs; instructed to consider prioritising allocation of MRVs for fresh registration of women in identified areas and issue free cards to first-time women registrants instead of requiring them to acquire Smart Card which costs Rs400 per card. NADRA rules may be amended to provide for relaxation in departmental approvals for extending cooperation to civil society organisations working on fresh registration of women. It would help immensely if civil society organisations are allowed to establish camps around NADRA centres to facilitate women.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2017.

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