ISLAMABAD, June 16: Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Qazi Mohammad Farooq has rejected a Pakistan People’s Party demand for extending the display period of draft electoral rolls.

“There is no such provision in the Electoral Roll Act, 1974, which clearly specifies the display period as 21 days,” he told a delegation of the PPP’s election monitoring cell which called on him here on Saturday. The CEC, however, said display centres would remain open on Sundays to facilitate eligible voters to file their claims for including their names in the electoral rolls.

Informed sources told Dawn that the delegation urged the CEC to take note of President General Pervez Musharraf’s participation in public meetings of the ruling party, but the CEC said he would have the power to do so only after announcement of the election schedule.

The PPP delegation, headed by Senator Abdul Lateef Khosa, also delivered to the CEC party chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s letter pointing out discrepancies in the voters’ list.

Ms Bhutto in her letter said there were reports that the electoral lists did not reflect actual voters.