Gearing up for the elections
ECP starts working alongside NADRA on a model project to prepare voter lists and amendments.
MULTAN/BAHAWALPUR:
The Election Commission (EC) of Pakistan has started working, alongside the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA), on a model project to prepare voter lists and amendments.
In the first phase, an experimental campaign will be launched door-to-door in four districts of the province. Election commission staff will visit houses to confirm the data they already have as part of their previous records. EC staff will also verify whether the data provided by NADRA is correct.
After the exercise, the EC will ask NADRA to prepare new voter lists. Then discrepancies between the two will be checked and if the number is high, a new strategy will be formed to update voter lists.
Initially the four districts selected for the experiment include Vehari from the Punjab, Swabi from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Quetta from Balochistan and Karachi East from Sindh. “It is extremely important that voter lists and ages etc be updated regularly as many people face problems in getting registered during the elections,” said an EC officer, Bandial.
Meanwhile in Bahawalpur, the Punjab government has issued a letter to all administrators, secretaries, IG, commissioners, DCOs and other heads of departments stating that according to the instructions issued by EC all executive authorities are to ensure that government machinery is not made available to any candidate or political party during the elections. “We need to ensure that no one facilitates candidates so that we can have a transparent election,” said Bahawalpur EC representative Ali Durrani.
“No official will misuse his authority to facilitate any candidate or political party,” he said, adding that party workers would not be allowed to or vow to surreptitiously to provide funds or developmental projects on behalf of any party or candidate.
Administrative officials were notified that after the latest election schedule was issued, no official would be transferred or appointed until the elections were over.
“Under dire circumstances permission will be sought from election commission of Pakistan in this regard,” Durrani said.
According to the EC regulations the prime minister and Punjab chief minister have been banned from visiting a constituency where an election schedule has been announced.
Published in the Express Tribune, October 10th, 2010.
The Election Commission (EC) of Pakistan has started working, alongside the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA), on a model project to prepare voter lists and amendments.
In the first phase, an experimental campaign will be launched door-to-door in four districts of the province. Election commission staff will visit houses to confirm the data they already have as part of their previous records. EC staff will also verify whether the data provided by NADRA is correct.
After the exercise, the EC will ask NADRA to prepare new voter lists. Then discrepancies between the two will be checked and if the number is high, a new strategy will be formed to update voter lists.
Initially the four districts selected for the experiment include Vehari from the Punjab, Swabi from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Quetta from Balochistan and Karachi East from Sindh. “It is extremely important that voter lists and ages etc be updated regularly as many people face problems in getting registered during the elections,” said an EC officer, Bandial.
Meanwhile in Bahawalpur, the Punjab government has issued a letter to all administrators, secretaries, IG, commissioners, DCOs and other heads of departments stating that according to the instructions issued by EC all executive authorities are to ensure that government machinery is not made available to any candidate or political party during the elections. “We need to ensure that no one facilitates candidates so that we can have a transparent election,” said Bahawalpur EC representative Ali Durrani.
“No official will misuse his authority to facilitate any candidate or political party,” he said, adding that party workers would not be allowed to or vow to surreptitiously to provide funds or developmental projects on behalf of any party or candidate.
Administrative officials were notified that after the latest election schedule was issued, no official would be transferred or appointed until the elections were over.
“Under dire circumstances permission will be sought from election commission of Pakistan in this regard,” Durrani said.
According to the EC regulations the prime minister and Punjab chief minister have been banned from visiting a constituency where an election schedule has been announced.
Published in the Express Tribune, October 10th, 2010.