Independents use automated lists to facilitate voters

Say past experience taught them that use of paper-based lists could be a nuisance

LAHORE: A panel of independent candidates for eight local government offices, including chairman and vice-chairman, in Union Council No255 (Sattukatla) used a custom-built computer software to generate voters’ details at their camps set up near all eight polling stations in the UC.

The move helped streamline the searching of details of voters visiting the panel’s camps, said Faheem Siddique, a ward councillor candidate from the panel.

He said past experience had taught them that locating voters visiting the camps on the lists could be a nuisance if done manually using lists provided by the Election Commission of Pakistan. He said to avoid the hassle the candidates in the panel contesting on the symbol of bucket had decided to automate the voters’ lists. He said with the database of voters ready, all they needed was to provide laptops and printers at all polling camps set up for the election day.

Siddique said with the automation of voters’ list, the preparation of slips carried out by voters became less time consuming. He said he hoped cross-checking of the number of slips issued for a specific polling booth with the votes cast for the panel at the booth would be a lot easier with automation of the lists.

To avoid the hassle of locating their details in paper-based lists, several voters of other candidates were also attracted to the panel’s camps.

Javed Ahmed, who identified himself as a voter for Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI), said he had obtained computer generated slips with polling details of his family members from the independent panel’s camp office. He said before visiting the panel’s office he had tried and failed to locate the entries at a nearby PTI camp office.

Another voter, Muhammad Shafiq, said he visited camp offices of several candidates but could not track down his family’s entries on the list. Eventually, he said he obtained computer generated slips for all his family members at the independent panel’s camp office.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2015.