Sindh

Electoral rolls: Election commission, NADRA officials asked to explain

Murad Ali Shah, complained that 7,069 votes of his taluka, Jamshoro have been registered in Balochistan.

Our Correspondent March 10, 2012

KARACHI:

The speaker has summoned Election Commission and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) officials on Monday to answer complaints on voter lists.

The verification of electoral rolls once again surfaced in the Sindh Assembly on Friday with lawmakers complaining of errors. The finance minister, Murad Ali Shah, complained that around 7,069 votes of his taluka in Jamshoro district have been registered in Shoran town of Katchi Bolan district of Balochistan.

“NADRA officials have denied it was their fault,” he said. “They claim to have the verified list provided to them by the Election Commission. But the Election Commission officials have no proper response. What should we do in this situation?” PPP MPA Ghulam Qadir Chandio said that the verification date should be extended from March 31 because even he saw errors in his constituency of Benazirabad.

President Zardari’s barrack

Law Minister Ayaz Soomro who is also the minister for prisons, informed the house that the government has converted into a library a barrack of the Karachi jail where President Asif Ali Zardari was incarcerated.

During the question and answer session, Soomro said that they were planning to also change the jail manual. He claimed that there were no political prisoners in any jail in Sindh. “No one can find the torture inside the jails,” he claimed. “There is no discrimination and all inmates are treated equally.”

There are around 14,000 prisoners in 27 central and district jails in Sindh. A biometric system is in the offing and the government has approved of Rs1 billion to fix them up. About Rs2.75 has been allocated for medical treatment of prisoners and Rs522 million for food. Three new jails are being built in Thatta, Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas whose prisoners have been shifted to Karachi, Hyderabad and Badin districts.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2012.