Only 165 Multan prisoners apply for postal ballot

Female prisoners could not apply for postal ballot due to unavailability of CNICs

MULTAN: At least 165 prisoners, confined at three prisons of Multan, have applied for postal ballots to cast their votes in the general elections scheduled to be held on July 25, jail officials said on Wednesday.

New Central Jail Superintendent Mohsin Rafiq Chaudhry said that requests of 149 prisoners were sent to the district returning officer (DRO) to enable them cast their votes.

Another 16 inmates from District Jail Multan, mostly under-trial, have sent their requests to the DRO for postal ballots, Jail Superintendent Amir Qureshi said. However, none of the female prisoners confined in the women’s jail applied for the postal ballot due as their Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) were unavailable.

The jail officials said they informed all inmates that they could apply for postal ballots, provided they have their identity cards and were willing to cast their vote. However, only 149 prisoners out of a total 2,200 from New Central Jail and 16 out of 750 prisoners in the District Jail applied for postal ballots.



Earlier, Multan Deputy Election Commissioner Shakeel Ahmed said there was a significant interest among people to avail the postal ballot service to cast their votes for General Elections 2018.

He added that a large number of government employees and people with disabilities were contacting the election commission office to avail the service and seek information.

He maintained that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) set July 5 and July 10 as the deadline for the submission of forms with the respective returning officers.

He pointed out government employees engaged in performing duties would submit forms by July 10.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2018.