Over 40,000 thumbprints unverified in PP-147: Nadra report

Published May 25, 2015
PP-147 candidate Mohsin Latif is the nephew of Kulsoom Nawaz. —Photo courtesy: Facebook
PP-147 candidate Mohsin Latif is the nephew of Kulsoom Nawaz. —Photo courtesy: Facebook

LAHORE: The National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) disclosed on Monday that 40,155 votes polled in the constituency of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Mohsin Latif — a nephew of Kulsoom Nawaz — have not been processed due to "poor quality of fingerprints".

A report submitted to an election tribunal in Lahore by Nadra pinpointed various irregularities and casting of bogus votes in PP-147 constituency.

According to the report, of the total of 74,251 votes, the fingerprints on only 24,139 votes' counterfoils matched with fingerprints in Nadra's Citizen Database Automated Finger­print Identification System (AFIS).

A further 1,084 used counterfoils had invalid Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) numbers which had never been issued by Nadra.

The report revealed 134 voters who were not registered in the PP-147 constituency had also cast votes, while 46 votes failed authentication because someone else had voted against the CNIC number on the used counterfoil.

Mistakes in writing down the CNIC numbers of 737 used counterfoils prevented them from being checked against the Nadra database, and 1,862 used counterfoils were found with illegible CNIC numbers.

There are 111 polling stations in PP-147, which falls under the NA-122 constituency. The provincial assembly constituency is one of four National Assembly constituencies where the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had been demanding votes’ and thumb verification since the election results were announced. PTI candidate Shoaib Siddiqui had lost to Mohsin Latif in PP-147 during the May 2013 election.

Read more: ‘93,000 votes’ thumbprint in NA Speaker’s constituency unverified’

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