ISLAMABAD, Jan 22: The Election Commission of Pakistan on Tuesday spurned former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s demand that elections should be held on the basis of the electoral list prepared in 1995.

An EC official, without naming Ms Bhutto, stated that it was the requirement under a Supreme Court judgment to hold fresh elections under the new electoral lists as the previous lists had become outdated.

Ms Bhutto had demanded that the new chief election commissioner conduct the forthcoming election on the basis of computerized electoral rolls prepared in 1995.

The EC spokesman said that the SC in its verdict in Syed Zafar Ali Shah case had held that electoral lists were outdated. “Fresh election cannot be held without updating the electoral rolls,” the apex court had held.

The EC has decided to give advertisement in the newspapers to inform the public about the judgment.

Chief Election Commissioner Irshad Hasan Khan had presided over the bench that had legitimised the military takeover on the basis of doctrine of necessity.

The spokesman said that the age of voters in electoral rolls prepared for the local government elections was 18 years whereas under the Constitution and the Electoral Rolls Act, 1974, the age limit for voters is 21 years.

The CEC had decided in October 2001 that the electoral rolls prepared under the Local Government Election Ordinance, 2000, should be utilised as basic document for preparation of electoral rolls.

“In order to prepare a basic draft, the master copies of the electoral rolls, which were available with the registration officer in each district, were handed over to Nadra (National Database and Registration Authority) for updating, wherefrom the names of voters below the age of 21 were deleted and those eligible to be enrolled added,” the spokesman added.

APP ADDS: The registration of votes by the election commission will be carried out by Jan 30. The EC will hand over the draft electoral rolls to Nadra before Feb 11.