ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is set to launch a door-to-door verification drive aimed at registering 7.3 million computerised national identity card (CNIC) holders, who are not on electoral rolls.

According to the latest figures received by the ECP from the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra), Punjab alone has 4.11m CNIC holders yet to become voters. These include 2.21m men and 1.9m women.

In Sindh, 1.4m people have yet to be registered, including 0.867m men and 0.587m women. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, over 1m people are not registered voters, including 0.577m men and 0.443m women.

In Balochistan, 0.268m men and 0.183m women have yet to become voters.

In the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), there are 0.288m people — 0.152m women and 0.136m men — with the CNICs, but they are not registered to vote.

An ECP official told Dawn that the commission had also received data of 0.923m deceased who were still on the electoral rolls — including 0.665m (0.454m men and 0.211m) in Punjab alone.

In Sindh, 132,302 deceased men and 61,887 deceased women were still on the voter list. In KP, the number of registered deceased voters stands at 40,608, including 30,298 men and 10,310 women. In Balochistan, more than 12,000 deceased individuals were registered to vote, including 9,112 men and 2,966 women.

In Fata, a total of 3,060 deceased people, including 2,718 men and 342 women, were registered to vote.

The deceased individuals on existing voters’ lists will be struck off the lists after the door-to-door verification.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2017