ISLAMABAD, July 17: The Election Commission has rejected a report of the US-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) on the electoral process in Pakistan and termed the report speculative and hypothetical.
An EC spokesman on Tuesday said the report had overlooked ground realities and the socio-cultural environment of Pakistan. It seemed that the report had been prepared by a ‘fault-finding’ mission rather than a fact-finding mission, he added.
He said that most of suggestions in the NDI report required amendment in laws that could only be done by parliament. The EC was bound to follow the laws, he added.
The spokesman said that the names of eligible voters were missing in the voters’ lists due to a lack of interest of people and political parties in the process. He also held responsible the National Database Registration Authority for the flawed lists, saying that the authority had failed to issue Computerised National Identity Cards to all citizens, especially the women of rural areas.
He said that the voters’ registration process would continue till the election schedule was formally announced. After the publication of the final electoral rolls, eligible voters could get registered themselves under the Section 18 of the Electoral Rolls Act, 1974, by submitting an application.
He said except in some flood-hit areas, all display centres were fully functional. More than 45,000 display centres were established at well-known locations, such as public schools and prominent buildings, he said, adding that on average one centre could deal with about 1,600 to 2,000 voters. He said during the display period there was no need for mobile teams.
Rejecting the NDI report’s claim of 13 million wrong entries, he said the addresses in the draft electoral rolls were exactly the same which were filled by voters themselves. If some voters had submitted incomplete or incorrect addresses the same would appear in the lists, he added.
