Voter verification results out on March 18
Election commission officials explain why counting votes in Karachi is so complex.
Officals say now the tabulation and final verification by National Database Registration Authority will take place. PHOTO: ONLINE/FILE
HYDERABAD:
The results of the nearly month-long voter verification in Karachi will be declared on March 18, announced the provincial election commissioner, Mehboob Anwar.
“The field operations will conclude tomorrow [February 16], which will be followed by the tabulation and final verification by the National Database Registration Authority,” he said. “By March 15, the election commission will have a fair idea of the changes.”
Anwar was addressing a press briefing along with a member of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Justice (retd) Roshan Ali Essani, on the upcoming by-polls in Thatta and Jamshoro districts. The voter verification in Karachi began in January on Supreme Court orders, but opposition parties have been unhappy that the process has been taken over by a single political party.
The issue of army deployment at the polling stations was something that the officials tried hard to avoid. “There are more than 80,000 polling stations in the country including 16,100 in Sindh,” pointed out Essani. “We can’t deploy the army everywhere.”
Essani went on to explain that the voter verification process is complex in Karachi because there are many factors that create problems.
The ECP officials said that all arrangements for by-polls in six Sindh Assembly constituencies on February 18 have been made. According to the regional election commissioner, Attaur Rehman, 151,542 voters are eligible to vote in PS-84 in Thatta and 153,000 in PS-73 in Jamshoro-cum-Dadu. Former provincial minister Murad Ali Shah and former MPA Sadiq Memon, who had resigned from these constituencies, are among the contestants. Their dual nationality issue has not been scrutinised as the ECP officials said they can take action only if a complaint is filed.
“The high court dismissed the petitions to cancel the polls and allowed these candidates [Shah and Memon] to contest,” clarified Anwar.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 16th, 2013.
The results of the nearly month-long voter verification in Karachi will be declared on March 18, announced the provincial election commissioner, Mehboob Anwar.
“The field operations will conclude tomorrow [February 16], which will be followed by the tabulation and final verification by the National Database Registration Authority,” he said. “By March 15, the election commission will have a fair idea of the changes.”
Anwar was addressing a press briefing along with a member of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Justice (retd) Roshan Ali Essani, on the upcoming by-polls in Thatta and Jamshoro districts. The voter verification in Karachi began in January on Supreme Court orders, but opposition parties have been unhappy that the process has been taken over by a single political party.
The issue of army deployment at the polling stations was something that the officials tried hard to avoid. “There are more than 80,000 polling stations in the country including 16,100 in Sindh,” pointed out Essani. “We can’t deploy the army everywhere.”
Essani went on to explain that the voter verification process is complex in Karachi because there are many factors that create problems.
The ECP officials said that all arrangements for by-polls in six Sindh Assembly constituencies on February 18 have been made. According to the regional election commissioner, Attaur Rehman, 151,542 voters are eligible to vote in PS-84 in Thatta and 153,000 in PS-73 in Jamshoro-cum-Dadu. Former provincial minister Murad Ali Shah and former MPA Sadiq Memon, who had resigned from these constituencies, are among the contestants. Their dual nationality issue has not been scrutinised as the ECP officials said they can take action only if a complaint is filed.
“The high court dismissed the petitions to cancel the polls and allowed these candidates [Shah and Memon] to contest,” clarified Anwar.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 16th, 2013.