Verifying voters’ lists
The work done by them is even more impressive when you consider that they were given only a few short months by the Supreme Court to prepare voters’ lists. After the 2008 general elections, it was found that nearly 30 per cent of votes cast could not be verified. This does not mean that a third of all votes were bogus; it was simply that the ECP could not be sure if they were genuine votes. Tackling this problem by launching the SMS verification service should be very successful in reducing voter fraud. Indeed, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry himself took part in the SMS verification on National Voters Day, giving his seal of approval to a project that was launched in response to a Supreme Court ruling.
The 2008 elections were considered among the freest in the country’s history. It is encouraging to see that various stakeholders are not simply resting on those laurels but are trying to ensure that the next elections will be even more transparent. Already, the appointment of the incorruptible Fakhruddin Ebrahim as the chief of the ECP has hinted at elections that will remain untainted. The continued success of the SMS voter verification service will be another valuable tool in ensuring that voters have the information they need to cast their ballots. All that is left now is for the usual suspects, who have nothing to do with the democratic process, to stay as far away from the process as possible.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 19th, 2012.
COMMENTS (7)
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Those who work in the government sector and are engaged in election duties have the right to cast their vote through a system called postal balloting. Each postal ballot is issued at the request of the government official employed to carry out election duties. Hence government officials would need to be aware of their rights in this regard.
It is interesting to note that the press usually engaged to cause awareness among voters and cover elections hardly find a time or perhaps the incentive to vote (owing to busy schedule). The media in all its forms need to inform and educate their staff to vote.
@M SIDDIQUE ABID RANA: "They are in the private and Govt sectors.There should be a facility at Internet. Online vote casting to their selected MNA/MPAs.This proccess of online vote casting should be 3or 4 days before from actual election dates. then the casted votes should highlighted on the voter lists so may not be doulbe cast.then counting announced on the actual election date."
Governments around the world are barely getting comfortable with electronic voting machines (not sure if they are used in Pakistan). SO I assume that the concern would be bogus voting if online voting was permitted. Also there would have to be a way to match up the physical vvoting booths and online voting on real time basis to prevent same person vote twice through 2 channels.
But your concern is very legitimate. In Mumbai too due to traffic commute times can be very large. Most companies gove a couple of hours off on election day for people to vote. So people with far off offices, vote early in morning and head out to work.
@Naeem Siddiqui: Thank you SIr. This is indeed an excellent innovation that India should also try to implement.
Dear all.
My point of view there is no service for those voters who perform their duties during electection dates very far from homes.They are in the private and Govt sectors.There should be a facility at Internet. Online vote casting to their selected MNA/MPAs.This proccess of online vote casting should be 3or 4 days before from actual election dates. then the casted votes should highlighted on the voter lists so may not be doulbe cast.then counting announced on the actual election date.
About 33,000 thousand people
Someone failed something basic somewhere.
@gp65
You don't need to register your cell phone number. you just have to SMS your CNIC Card number to a phone number given by election commission, using the CNIC number EC system gets information (Address e.t.c) from NADRA database and match them with the voter list and send back the voter list information to the number which sent the SMS.
If a voter finds their vote is registered on a wrong address they can go EC office and correct it.
This is a good innovation. I am curious though : how does it work in case of voters who do not have a cell phone or whose cellphone is not registered with EC? Afterall, my understanding is that one of the reasons 30% of voters were unverified last time around is that when people move, they do not always update their NIC card with the updated address. So if people do not register addresses which are much more permanent - how is it ensured that the phone numbers on EC database are in fact the latest? Cell phone numbers definitely change with greater frequency than physical address for most people.