KARACHI, Jan 14: Since the commencement of their door-to-door campaign for the preparation of new electoral rolls and their verification by the election commission, political parties have initiated an exercise to warm up their party cadres.

“Preparations for new electoral rolls have started for the promised October 2002 general elections in October from Jan 1”, said an EC official on Monday.

Persons of 21 years of age and above on Jan 1 are being enrolled as voters in the draft, he said, adding a door-to-door campaign for verification of the rolls launched from Jan 1 will be completed by the end of the month.

In this regard, about 30,000 election staff have been recruited from the employees of the education department, banks, financial institutions and other government organisations.

He said each member of the election staff would have to approach about 3,000 people to get their forms filled, carrying necessary information to enlist the voters.

He asked the people to cooperate with the election staff and said if someone is left, so he must contact the EC so that he could be enlisted in the new electoral roll.

“The CEC has ordered preparation of an error-free electoral roll and asked the officials to ensure that no foreign national is enrolled as a voter” he added.

He said that the registration staff is vigilant about foreign nationals who might have obtained even Pakistani passports and national identity cards. However, he said all eligible Pakistanis would surely be on the electoral rolls being prepared afresh.

The finance ministry has assured the EC that work on electoral rolls would not be hampered due to financial constraints.

According to an announcement, President General Pervez Musharraf will unveil a detailed election schedule on Aug 14, and by that time all ground rules would have also been announced which would leave very little time for political parties for electioneering.

Top leaders of three main rivals parties PPP, PML-N and MQM have taken refuge abroad for certain reasons. Leaders of PPP and PML-N have been subjected to accountability process which is effecting their election campaign.

PPP is struggling for its survival as the party chairperson Benazir Bhutto has been in a self-imposed exile to avoid corruption cases. Although she has been pursuing her campaign outside the county by visiting different countries and focusing her attention on restoration of democracy.

The vote bank of PML-N, which emerged as the largest party during 1997 elections, has been encroached upon by its disgruntled faction PML-QA, headed by Mian Azhar, which ably demonstrated its strength in the recently held local bodies elections.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, though still willing to take part in the elections, had earlier warned the government of not taking part in the process if operation against its workers is not stopped.

Political analysts hint at the strong possibility that religious parties, including Jamaat-i-Islami, Jamiat Ulema Pakistan and Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI-F and JUI-S) will participate in election under the platform of Muttahida Majlis Amal which was recently formed.

The ARD, led by Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, has failed to influence national political horizon mainly owing to bitter differences among members of component parties.

Tehrik-i-Insaf of Imran Khan, Allama Tahirul Qadri’s Awami Tehrik, Millat Party of Sardar Farooq Leghari, Tehrik-i-Istiqlal of Air Marshal Asghar Khan and Ajmal Khattak’s National Awami Party command little respect and influence among masses as they have clearly failed to prove their worth as political pressure groups.

The analysts claim that newly formed Sindh Democratic Alliance, an alliance of former legislators belonging to different political parties, led by Imtiaz Shaikh may play crucial role in Sindh’s politics in October general elections.

According to them, SDA may offer tough time to the PPP as it has some influential personalities in its ranks who can create problems for the party.

Sindh National Front chairman Mumtaz Bhutto has also proposed formation of an election alliance of nationalist parties. If this development takes place, it would be another significant development.—PPI