ISLAMABAD, Aug 5: The Election Commission said on Friday returning officers had not been authorized to use under their discretionary powers the electoral rolls prepared for the 2000-01 local government elections.

Secretary Election Commission Kanwar Mohammad Dilshad in a statement reiterated that the electoral rolls prepared during 2000-01 on separate electorate basis had been updated for the forthcoming local government polls, in which the minimum age for voting was 18, and not 21 years.

According to him, the updating process of the electoral rolls was carried out from August 2004 to March 2005, during which extensive awareness campaigns on electronic and print media were undertaken to ensure that maximum number of voters could get themselves enrolled. As a result of the campaigns, 1.5 million new voters were enrolled.