ISLAMABAD: Citizens over 18 can update their voter details till October 25, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced on Thursday.

The commission has decided to “unfreeze” the electoral rolls — an official list showing eligible voters residing in a particular constituency — to allow registered voters to rectify or update their details.

According to ECP’s Media Outreach and Coordination Wing, the electoral rolls were frozen under Section 39 Elections Act, 2017, on July 20.

However, the commission has now allowed citizens to make amends in the rolls for the sake of data accuracy.

ECP unfreezes electoral rolls; sets up desks for objections on delimitations

According to data shared by the ECP last week, the number of voters in Pakistan has increased by 21 million to 127m — up from 106m at the time of the 2018 general elections.

The overall number of female voters increased from 46.7m in 2018 to 58.5m in 2023, while the number of male voters jumped from 59.2m to 68.5m.

The statistics showed that the difference between men and women of voting age stood around 10m in the country, where women make up 49pc of the population.

The gender gap was over 12m a few years back.

The gap has been reduced with the addition of 11.74m female voters since the 2018 elections. In comparison, 9.28m male voters have been added to electoral rolls in the corresponding period.

Facilitation desks set up

Meanwhile, a day after issuing preliminary delimitation lists of National and provincial assemblies’ constituencies, the commission has set up facilitation desks and collection centres to receive objections over the list.

The desks, set up at the ECP Secretariat in Islamabad, will remain operational during office hours till October 27, the last date to submit the objections.

As per the ECP, the desks will continue to function during the government holiday announced for Friday — on account of Eid Milad un Nabi — and weekly holidays on Saturday and Sunday.

These desks will remain operational till October 27, 2023, the last date for submission of objections. In the meantime, constituency maps can also be obtained from the ECP Secretary at a price as per the law.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2023