Eligible voters registered in their constituencies: CEC

The Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja said the commission has ensured registration of all eligible voters in their respective constituencies as per law and registered all other eligible voters not listed in the constituencies. 

“The step of the Election Commission of Pakistan has significantly increased the number of voters from 112 million to 115 million,” said Raja on Monday while addressing a ceremony in Islamabad at the ECP Secretariat on National Voters Day observed to educate people about democratic process and ensure commitment of the ECP for free, fair and transparent elections in the country.

In 2017, the country had passed a historic reforms legislation, the Election Act 2017, which limits the variation in constituency sizes according to number of voters to a maximum of 10 per cent, in line with international good practice. Before General Elections 2018, the delimitation of constituencies conducted across the country as per provisional results of 2017 consensus to achieve the target.

The ECP chief revealed that the commission has formulated a strategic plan 2019-2023 to achieve its goals while the commission was also working for the elimination of gender disparities in electoral rolls for which work was nearing completion.

The chief election commissioner reiterated that the main purpose to celebrate the day was “to educate people about democratic process”.

“The ECP is an independent and constitutional body and committed to providing equal opportunities to candidates so that people can participate in democratic process,” said Raja, adding the commission was taking several key steps to make elections free and fair.

He said conducting local body elections in a timely manner was one of the key responsibilities of the commission and preparations for such elections have been completed.

“ECP is in contact with National Command and Operation Centre regarding local bodies polls in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic,” he said, adding steps were being taken for voter education and new technology was being used in the electoral process.

He added ECP launched a pilot project in 21 districts in July to find out reasons of gender gap in voter lists which was nearing completion.

The chief election commissioner apprised the audience ECP has introduced an online complaint management system under which all complaints related to office bearer of the commission would be regularly monitored and the commission would ensure immediate relief for the complainants.

On the occasion, Raja inaugurated ECP's tele-helpline 051-8848888 linked to the call centre service of the commission through which complainants could talk to ECP representatives.