LAHORE, Feb 12: At least 50,000 more voters will be included in electoral rolls meant for the October general elections in the Punjab following an 11-day campaign of the election commission.

The Punjab Election Commission has so far received 14,000 new application forms for registration as voters while a few more are likely to pour in by post on Wednesday. Each form is meant for whole of a family. Keeping in view the population pattern in the country, four members of a family, on an average, are eligible voters.

For the first time in the history of the commission application forms were printed in almost all national dailies at a cost of millions of rupees to facilitate people.

The commission even allowed the use of photocopies of these forms while a media campaign was also launched to remind the people of the last date for the submission of the forms.

The commission verified the amended electoral rolls provided by the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) on the basis of the 1998 Census after deleting the names of voters under 21 years of age. The rolls had earlier been used for the local council elections last year for which the age limit for voters was 18 years. The verification process was completed on Jan 30 bit it was later extended to Feb 11 under instructions from the CEC to redress complaints regarding failure of the commission staff to reach some of the areas during the prescribed time.