ECP to hold LB polls as per old voter lists

KARACHI:

Political parties and voters have raised objections on voting as per old electoral rolls in the upcoming local bodies (LB) elections. However, sources said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) says it is bound to conduct the polls as per the lists according to which the entire process, including submission of nomination papers, had been completed.

MQM-Pakistan Convener Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has recently written a letter to the ECP to formally request the body for conducting the LB elections under the new voters' lists. The letter states that since the new lists have been issued, how polling can be held on the basis of old lists without any constitutional or legal reason?

The ECP has announced the second phase of LB elections on January 15, 2023 after postponing the exercise several times. Now, there is a need to reconsider the decision to use the old and objectionable voter lists in polling as per constitutional requirements, according to the letter. Siddiqui requested the ECP to withdraw this decision.

On the other hand, sources in the ECP told The Express Tribune that criticism of political parties aside, the law says that polling would be held according to the voter lists on which the election process had started. Now the new by-election would be according to the new voter lists, the sources added.

According to the old lists, there are 8.4 million registered voters in Karachi, while the revised lists, issued on October 7, 2022, put the number of registered voters at 8.7 million.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2023.