ISLAMABAD: The counsel for the Chief Election Commissioner Sindh Wednesday submitted an affidavit before the Supreme Court regarding verification of voter lists in Karachi.

A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed was hearing the case regarding the electoral reforms.

According to the affidavit, the provincial election commission carried out verification of voter lists in five districts of the metropolis with the help of army.

In December last year, the Supreme Court had asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to carry out fresh verification of voters’ lists in Karachi, with the assistance of the army and the Frontier Corps.

During the course of proceedings, the bench also took up two individual applications, on the same subject, submitted by Hussain Mehnati and Syeda Tehsin Fatima.

The chief justice remarked that the process of verification was going well by and large with the help of armed forces in Karachi.

He said that the court would also ask the secretary defence to disclose exact number of troops involved in the verification process.

The bench stated that the process was still continuing and if any grievance was raised, it should be redressed by the provincial election commission.

The court reiterated that the election commission staff should make door-to-door visits and the verification process should be carried out purely with the help of armed forces and FC personnel.

Later, during the hearing of original case, the bench observed that the election commission had to provide some kind of modality for providing the overseas Pakistanis to exercise their right to vote.

Justice Gulzar Ahmed remarked that postal ballots could be very precarious as there were chances of rigging in the process.

Hamid Khan, counsel for PTI chief Imran Khan, said that in any case the ECP had to evolve a mechanism, which could give about 44 million Pakistanis residing in different countries, the right to vote.

Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed held that the process of postal ballots was not an easy one as it demanded a lot of exercise, finances and time at the same time.

Upon this, the CJ remarked that the time was very short and the ECP had to be very vigilant in making a strategy for overseas Pakistanis.

He directed Attorney General Irfan Qadir, who was not present, to appear before the court in next hearing to clear the government's point of view in this regard.

The court adjourned the hearing to Thursday.