During a meeting of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and political parties, Mirza explained why the commission was unable to comply with Supreme Court’s order to finalise the electoral rolls by February 23.
Mirza said that the responsibilities of every institution are chalked out clearly in the Constitution, and unnecessary interference of institutions results in anarchy. He added that the task of finalising new electoral rolls should remain with the ECP without interference from any institution.
He also said that if the electoral rolls were not finalised as per the law then it will be held against the Constitution.
Secretary Election Commission Ishtiaq Ahmed, talking to the media later during the day, said the preliminary voters list needs some time to be completed, but the finalisation process can only be done by the end of May.
Nadra will print the preliminary lists preferably in March, and the lists will be displayed for three weeks on at least 65,000 display centres, he added.
He also announced of the new SMS facility introduced by Nadra for voter registration, and added that the constituencies will remain the same as before in the upcoming elections.
The secretary added that the commission informed the court that it also wants to issue the rolls as soon as possible, and even announced of issuing them by December 2011, but there were many hurdles in the process.
In December last year, the Supreme Court ordered the commission to wrap up the process of finalising the electoral rolls and gave a final deadline of February 23. The order was handed out during the hearing of a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, who had asked the court to remove fake votes from the electoral rolls.
The ECP in a statement had also admitted that some 37 million votes were bogus and could not be verified.
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I am fully agreed with the comments of ayesha khan. I think Ayesha khan has good understanding of electoral rolls. Preparing and updating electorl rolls of sixth largest country of the world is not a simple task. Generating an updated and computerised electoral rolls requires huge efforts and appropriate time. Simply, the print of CNIC from NADRA's data does not meet the requirement of voterlist. The voter list of ECP is based upon census blocs. The CNIC holders of relevant census block are adjusted in the block after proper verification. The identification of deceased voters, preference of voters to get them registed either on current addresses or permanant addresses (since a large number of people move from one place to another for the sack of employment...) There fore inclusion of all the eligible voters is a constitutional and fundamental rights of the voters, if they are excluded due to time bar can be deemed as a vilolation of fundamental rights. I think credible elections requires an error free, updated and computerised voter list, Since elections are due in 2013, if elections are held early, even then the concerned stakeholders need to facilitate the process of voter list.
@Hafiz Shah Ali: "Very difficult to understand the logic of th e Chief Election Commissioner sahib. NADRA has computerised records of all persons who have been issued CNIC.So all that is required to print out the data based on constituencies "
Not as simple as youare stating. People do not always notify NADRA when someone dies. NADRA addresses are also not always current since people fail to notify NADRA when they move, so adress verification can be time consuming. Finally some people re-register themselves when they move rather than having their address changed in the NADRA database resulting in duplicate records.
@quacker: "Wonder how our ever so honest & likable President and our equally honest Prime Minister can claim to be “democratic” representatives of the people of “THE LAND OF THE PURE’ with 35 million fake / bogus votes??"
Those were not bogus votes. The Nadra certified votes in 2008 turned out to be less than the votes cast in 202. Thus parties went to Supreme court who ordered that all people who cast votes in 2002 should be included in 2008 elections - whether verified by Nadra or not. This was thus done in compliance with Supreme court orders and is now being described as bogus votes. Once again the Supreme court is trying to rush the election comission and if it complies, once more it will be accused of bogus votes. Would it not be better to wait for 3 months but ensure that each vote is based on verifiable registrations?
@Hafiz: Please think for a while before being so reactive. The data with NADRA does not seprate the living and dead. therefore it can take so long. it is not as simple as you think.
Very difficult to understand the logic of th e Chief Election Commissioner sahib.
NADRA has computerised records of all persons who have been issued CNIC.So all that is required to print out the data based on constituencies .Also print a small photo of the CNIC holder to avoid bogus voting
Supreme Court judges sometimes take stupid decision and then they have to reverse it. Better get things get done right which needs proper time.
SC should stop interfering in operational matters of other institutions. It was because of this SC (read CJ) that the voter lists had more than 30 millions dubious voters, and the blame is put on the ECP.
Wonder how our ever so honest & likable President and our equally honest Prime Minister can claim to be "democratic" representatives of the people of "THE LAND OF THE PURE' with 35 million fake / bogus votes??
Coming from a retired Justice, SC should pay heed and stop interfering in administrative matters.