Four million struck off electoral rolls

ECP signals readiness to hold election by October

ISLAMABAD:

 

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday revealed that around four million voters were excluded from the voter lists as they were reported as deceased.

Addressing a news conference, ECP Secretary Umar Hameed Khan also announced that it was prepared and ready to hold fresh elections by the end of October this year, saying a final decision in this regard would be taken by the government.

He said the government has been asked to complete the digital census by December 31 and in the event of a delay, holding polls by August 2023 will not be possible on the basis of the new census.

He said the preliminary electoral rolls have been placed at over 20,000 display centres across the country for the general public to check their votes and urged the people to visit these display centres for correction or inclusion of missing names if any. The electoral watchdog’s secretary further said that the process of printing of the final electoral rolls will be completed by August 12 this year. He said people can also receive details about their votes on their mobile phones by sending a free SMS with CNIC number without hyphen and spaces to 8300.

The secretary said that over 12 million voters will be eligible to exercise their right to franchise in the next general elections.

‘Four million voters excluded’

The secretary revealed that during the door-to-door verification, around 98.49 million voters were verified at their permanent or temporary addresses whereas around four million voters were excluded from the voter lists as they were reported as deceased.

He said that according to the preliminary list, the number of voters had reached 124,82,302, adding that the number of male voters has reached 65.6 million, while the number of female voters is 54.8 million.

He said that the timelines of activities of the periodical revision 2021-2022 will be as publication of electoral rolls under section 28 of the Elections Act 2017 and inviting claims, objections and applications for corrections will continue from May 21 to June 19.

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He said that the disposal of claims, objections and applications for correction by the revising authorities and media campaign and monitoring of display period will take place during the period May 21 to July 7.

‘ECP not a political body’

Meanwhile, the ECP secretary stressed that the commission will continue to do its work as per law, fulfilling its constitutional responsibilities, adding it was not a political institution.

"ECP is not a political institute and we work under rules and obey the constitution of Pakistan. Our decisions are based on law and legislation, the secretary ECP said while addressing the press conference.

He said that the ECP was an independent and autonomous body and it is its responsibility to conduct transparent and fair elections, adding that it is carrying out its work as per the orders of the Supreme Court.

Speaking about the issue of electronic voting machines (EVMs), the secretary made it clear that several protocols needed to be followed for the task, adding the work in this regard was still underway.

“The NADRA is reviewing the system and the pilot project of EVMs was not grounded,” he said, adding pulling up the task was not as easy as “buying a thing from a supermarket”.

He also denied changing the voter registration data of several citizens without informing them and moving polling stations to inconvenient locations much farther than their previous allocations. He termed the allegations baseless.