Over 4 million unverified voters part of electoral lists

In quite a shocking revelation, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has revealed that there were around 4.8 million voters included in the electoral lists without any physical verification.

According to the reports, 3.2 million unverified voters are in Punjab, 0.662 million in Sindh, 0.583 million in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 0.167 million in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and 0.163 million in Balochistan.

The disclosure by Secretary ECP Ishtiak Ahmed Khan annoyed members of the parliamentary panel on election matters who demanded that either these voters be verified or be deleted from the electoral list.

ECP Secretary Ishtiak Ahmed Khan told the committee that addresses of voters in some cases could not be verified during the door-to-door campaign.  All of them were holders of genuine Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs) and cannot be disenfranchised under the law.

He said the holders of such CNICs were embedded in a family structure and the details of the entire family tree were available to establish their identity. In July, the ECP unveiled the new electoral list carrying over 84 million voters. The new lists were compiled on the basis of CNICs.

Senator Sughra Imam of the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) pointed out that on an average there were over 21,000 unverified entries from each of the 148 constituencies in Punjab – enough to change the entire electoral scenario.

Ishtiak Ahmed pointed out that there were 37 million unverified entries in the electoral rolls used for the 2008 elections, but nobody had an objection. He said it was the Election Commission which, with the help of the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA), not only uncovered the flaw, but also effectively addressed it.

He noted, “Had we not developed the electoral rolls ensuring one person-one vote, the 2013 elections would also be held on basis of the same flawed list.”

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Posted by Web Desk on Nov 17 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.