July 09, 2007	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 23, 1428

LAHORE, July 8: The Punjab establishment of the Election Commission of Pakistan has received more than 50,000 requests for the registration of new voters and seeking the removal of other anomalies, like duplicate votes, and is in the process of updating electoral rolls by meeting applicants’ requirements.

However, such requests from other provinces which have been devastated by floods and torrential rains are said to be negligible in number.

According to knowledgeable sources, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is considering another extension in the date of correcting and updating the rolls. The ECP has already extended this date till July 18; but the commission thinks that the electorate from Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan, from where the complaints about faulty electoral lists have come more than Punjab, need more time for the purpose.

The ECP is said to have prepared another summery for the president to amend the law for extending this date till Aug 4.

Punjab Election Commissioner Ayaz Mohammad Baig says that the ECP might consider another 15-day extension for the correction and updating of electoral rolls if it felt that the job had not been completed by the stipulated date (of July 18).

The ECP initiated the process of updating electoral rolls on April 15, 2006 by door-to-door enumeration of voters as is required under Rule of the Electoral

Rolls, 1974, framed under the law of the same nomenclature. The draft electoral rolls were put on display at its designated display centers, mostly government schools and colleges, for three weeks on June 12 for the purpose of ‘public information, inviting claims, objections and applications for correction’. The last day set for the purpose was July 3. The date has now been extended for 15 days.

A report compiled by the Pakistan Institution of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) has raised many questions about the new electoral rolls and the main objection on them is that the new draft rolls have registered about 20 million voters less than those listed in electoral lists prepared for October 2002 elections. The report says keeping in view the annual growth rate of 2.7 per cent in population, actual shortfall is somewhere between 2.7 to 2.8 million which is around 33 per cent of the electorate.

The PILDAT report also says that the ECP prepared fresh electoral rolls on its own, although it should have used the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) database which has managed such a huge data of each and every citizen of Pakistan as to win world acclamation.

The NADRA database, according to the report, is more comprehensive that the draft electoral rolls as displayed by the ECP. The PILDAT argues since the new rolls have to mention the computrised national identity card against the name of each of the voters as a legal pre-requisite, the use of the NADRA database becomes all the more important.

The report also says that the ECP data entry system, managed by contractors in Lahore who have set up data centers for the purpose, is not open to public as is being complained by political parties. It mentions that the contract for registration of voters was awarded to a firm (Klasoft) which is a joint venture of three Pakistani companies, including the TCS.

Mr Baig explains the situation saying that the NADRA prepared electoral rolls for the local government elections held in 2000-2001 and general elections in October 2002.

The 2002 rolls showed an addition of 5.5 million votes in view of the government lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 years. The ECP was not satisfied with the work because around 3.4 million duplicate votes were not deleted.

This number has to be removed to ensure the authenticity of the rolls computerised for the first time.

He says that electoral rules also make obligatory for the ECP to prepare rolls by conducting a door-to-door enumeration. Besides, the NADRA database accounts for only the number of computerised cards issued while the ECP database is prepared on the basis of census blocks.

As such, the NADRA and the ECP have a different database; both the departments can benefit from each other’s record, but the NADRA database cannot be used for the purpose of electoral rolls which is also not supported by the law, Mr Baig adds.