Re-verification of Karachi voters: ECP likely to seek army’s help

Commission’s secretary says army to start verification in first week of January.

ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is set to approve re-verification of voters in Karachi with the help of Army in its meeting with the army on Thursday (today).

“Verification by using [the] services of Pakistan Army will start in the first week of January. [However] the final decision will be taken by the commission at the meeting,” said ECP Secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan.

The Supreme Court has ordered a house-to-house verification of computerised voters’ list in Karachi. It has also directed the delimitation of constituencies in the city - another contentious issue today’s meeting will discuss.

According to the ECP secretary, there are 13,000 census blocks in Karachi where the services of 13,000 personnel of the armed forces would be required to re-verify the voters.



Pakistan’s first computerised electoral rolls, which were compiled earlier this year, contain 6.8 million voters from Karachi. There had also been complains of massive irregularities in the voters’ lists in some areas of the city.

By-elections issue

The commission, headed by Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, will also decide on the fate of those who violated the code of conduct in the recent by-elections in various constituencies of Punjab.

The ECP will study footage obtained from different private television channels showing supporters of some candidates resorting to celebratory firing even before the official results have been declared. If proven guilty of major violations, the commission can withhold the results and can disqualify the candidates.

When contacted, an ECP official said the contesting candidates found to be responsible for inciting their supporters to aerial firing would face action that may subsequently lead to their disqualification.



The commission is also likely to seek an explanation from Suno Khan Baloch, the Sindh election commissioner, who was accused by some political parties of being biased.

If the accusations of deliberate tampering with the voters’ list in Karachi held some ground, it could mean trouble for Baloch, who has managed to get a third extension in his tenure despite his retirement, according to a source. “His fate could be sealed if his role in the game was proven,” the source said.

The ECP will also discuss the issue of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa MPA Javed Iqbal, who is the only lawmaker who has not filed an affidavit on his dual nationality, nor has he tendered his resignation.

“We are not aware of his status [whether he is a dual national] nor [do we know] of his whereabouts. He did not bother to contact the commission so far,” an ECP official said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13^th, 2012.