Four million Balochistan women will not be able to vote in elections

Of the total 5.8m women in province, only 1.8m have identity cards

QUETTA: Over 4.0 million women will not be able to vote in the upcoming general elections as only 1.8 million women are registered voters of the total population of 5.8 million in Balochistan.
Members of the civil society working for rights of women in Balochistan were of the view that due to the social limitations and problems during travelling, women could not get their identity cards made.
According to thems, women living in Jafarabad, Naseerabad and Panjgur did not have identity cards.



Members of NGOs Sana Durrani, Zulekha Raisani, Ms Haleem and Hira Munir said that the extraordinary increase in the fee of identity card has further put the political participation of women in jeopardy.
They said that the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), keeping in mind the deprivation of the province, should exempt the women from paying the identity card fee.
“Political parties should give women a say in making important decisions so that more and more women join politics,” they added.
According to them, the main reason behind the decrease in the number of women voters in Balochistan was the shortage of Nadra mobile vans.
They urged NADRA to increase the number of mobile vans in all districts of the province.