Electoral process: Poll body pushes for early registration

ECP asks law ministry to move bill in the parliament to make CNICs mandatory for registration and vote casting.

ISLAMABAD: Election authorities asked the law ministry to move a bill in the parliament to make computerised national identity cards (CNICs) mandatory for registration and vote casting.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) sent a proposed draft for legislation, which the law ministry is likely to table in the parliament in its next session, an official told The Express Tribune.

The ECP had been pressing the government to pass the legislation so it could complete its computerised electoral rolls’ project in time.

The commission has already completed the pilot project of the computerised electoral rolls. It called for a meeting with NADRA and other relevant departments on Thursday to discuss the data collected from the four districts and finalise its arrangements for the second phase of the country-wide computerised electoral rolls.

The commission plans to complete the project by June next year.

An ECP official said the data collected from the four districts selected for the pilot project was encouraging. According to him, 80 to 90 per cent eligible voters had registered themselves.

Meanwhile, a press statement issued here on Wednesday said another major target is the introduction of electronic voting machines (EVM) in order to improve the credibility of the electoral process.

ECP announced that a few local and international manufacturers would show their EVMs.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2010.