ISLAMABAD:
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has said that the process of delimitation of constituencies is being carried out in light of the results of the 2017 population census.
The electoral rolls are also being revised keeping in view the latest census results.
“In addition, the ECP is making preparations to train presiding officers, assistant presiding officers and polling officers ahead of their appointment to conduct the general elections,” an ECP spokesman told the media on Sunday.
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“Polling station-wise Result Management System has specially been designed to improve the accuracy, efficiency and transparency of result tabulation process,” the spokesman said.
“The election commission has successfully conducted the Geographic Information System Mapping survey of over 71,000 polling stations across the country,” he added.
The commission will make pilot testing for checking the efficacy of overseas Pakistanis vote.
An Independent Monitoring Wing has been established in the ECP to oversee pre-poll, post-poll activities and point out illegal practices, including huge spending on electoral exercises in violation of law, the spokesman said.
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The commission officials said that interaction with political parties and civil society organisations were held for preparation and finalisation of the existing Code of Conduct to get their feedback/suggestions for making improvement in election process.
They said as many as 130 district voter education committees are formed to motivate the general public, especially women and specifically rural women, persons with disabilities, transgender and other marginalised groups with help of civil society organisations, notables of area and relevant departments in each district to take part in electoral activities including registration of votes.
Thirty more warehouses are being established across the country at each divisional level to safeguard election material.
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An exclusive gender wing has been established in the ECP to encourage inclusion of female staff at ECP, develop strategies and implementation plans for reducing gender disparity, conduct research to identify barriers for women and marginalised sections of society from participation in the electoral process and develop a mechanism to electoral process.
The ECP has developed gender sensitive curriculum/material for training of polling staff on gender issues faced on the polling day.
The ECP has engaged National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to focus on those electoral areas where women registration is less than 40% as compared to men.
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To increase the number of women candidates, the Electoral Law 2017 makes it mandatory for political parties to allocate 5% of the tickets to women contestants.
NADRA has been asked to send Mobile Registration Vans (MRVs) for issuing of National Identity Cards to women in less registered areas.
The data of less registered women has also been shared with District Voter Education Committee to raise awareness for grassroots communities and facilitate women in far-flung areas to get registered as voters.
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Moreover, the officials said tender for procurement of election material has been finalised. The quality of election material including foldable screens, official code mark stamps, polling bags, etc., has been improved.
The ECP has procured 150 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and 100 Biometric Verification Machines (BVMs) by following PPRA rules.
The ECP would include as many as 73,60,000 new voters in electoral rolls. The total number of voters would become 100.04 million. The names of 4.72 million men and 3.287 million women voters would be included in new voter lists.
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Persons having new CNICs would be included in electoral rolls whereas the names of 923,000 voters would be deleted from the electoral lists.
Out of which 634,000 men (68.62%) and 289,000(31.37) women voters. Voter lists would be displayed at each district for people's review.
Applications for rectifying anomalies in the names in electoral rolls would also be received.
(With additional input from APP)
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