Sindh Assembly: Resolution to extend voter verification passed

The original deadline was March 20.


Our Correspondent March 21, 2012

KARACHI: The resolution of extending the verification time of the electoral rolls by a month, sailed through the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday as all the lawmakers unanimously approved it.

It was seemingly passed to give moral ground to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), whose members are scheduled to meet today in Islamabad to extend the deadline for submitting final electoral rolls. The original deadline was March 20.

The resolution reads: “Sindh Assembly resolves and recommends the Sindh government to approach the federal government to extend the deadline for electoral roll verification by a month for proper registration of electoral rolls for the upcoming general election.”

It was moved by Pakistan Peoples Party (MPA) MPA Humera Alwani. During the debate the lawmakers expressed their concerns on massive errors and discrepancies found in the electoral rolls. They alleged that it was done under a conspiracy since the voters names were registered in the wrong constituencies, districts, and even provinces.

“More than a million votes of Sindh were registered in Balochistan. Out of them 15,000 were only registered using thumb impression,” said MPA Alwani. “This is a manmade error and some elements were identified. We demand action against the responsible people.”

Referring to a briefing given to house members by the provincial election commissioner and Nadra officials, Alwani said that more than 7,000 votes of PPP MPA Murad Ali Shah’s constituency were registered in the Bolan district of Balochistan.

“It is equally disturbing that the votes of our people from rural Sindh, who have been living in Karachi for years, were not registered in Karachi,” Alwani said. “Out of them around 35,000 people are only the employees of Sindh government.” Most of the people who had moved to Karachi cannot vote in Karachi even though they want to. “They must be given a choice between registering their votes in Karachi or elsewhere.”

Alwani continued and said that although the election commission officers had claimed to rectify errors by filling out forms in the concerned areas in their briefing, had demanded more time to fix them. She said that the people did not know where to get the correction form from. “We request the Sindh Assembly to summon the election commission and Nadra officers to brief the MPAs again because we have many queries.”

Though Alwani did not name who was involved in registering a massive number of votes outside Karachi, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MPA Heer Ismail Soho refuted her claim that it was a deliberate act against any people or an ethnic group.

“Stop blaming anyone before verifying the facts,” he said. “I belong to Thatta but my vote is registered in Karachi. Where is the conspiracy you are talking about?” Despite the fact that her vote was registered in Karachi Soho said that she would prefer it to be registered in Thatta.

Another MQM MPA Muzammil Qureshi brought the assembly’s attention towards the issue of bogus votes in his constituency, Gulshan-e-Iqbal. According to him the votes were registered without proper information, such as correct addresses.

However, Sindh Election Commissioner Sono Khan Baloch said that the decision will be made today at the meeting in Islamabad. “The ECP will most probably extend the deadline today given the massive irregularities in verification of the voters.”

He said that all the election commission in all the other provinces will also gather to submit their proposals at the meeting. When asked about the proposal he was going to present, Baloch said that he could not share it at the moment. “A month’s time is more than enough,” he said. “We will finish our task before that.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22nd, 2012.

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