ATTOCK, June 26: With adult population increasing year on year, the number of registered votes in Attock district has instead declined by at least 39,000 votes compared to the figures recorded five years ago, Dawn has learnt.

According to the computerised draft electoral rolls of six tehsils of Attock - Pindigheb, Fatehjang, Jand, Hazro, Hassanabdal and Attock - there are 671,000 eligible voters in the district.

The corresponding figures in the years 2001 and 2002 were 685,000 and 710,000, respectively.

A number of people complained that either their names were missing from the voters’ list or carried multiple errors. Zafarur Rehman, a resident of Darus Salam Colony in Attock City complained that his and his wife’s names had not been included in the electoral rolls.

Similarly, Sheikh Ejaz of Block-A Attock city, claimed that the election staff delivered the enrolment forms to him but did not collect those till the last date, thus depriving him and his family of their right to vote.

Interestingly, when this correspondent visited the District Election Office last Friday to verify the public complaints and also to check his name in the displayed electoral list, it was revealed that at least three bogus votes had been registered against his permanent address.

On lodging a verbal complaint on the spot, Assistant Election Commissioner (AEC) Mazhar Minhaz said he would check the voters’ enlistment forms to pinpoint the error and asked the reporter to revisit his office on Monday.

On the said day, the official informed that the error could not be detected, therefore, he should file an objection as per the rules.

Similarly, a number of such complaints were also reported in the current electoral list.

It is important to be mentioned here that the process of filing objections and registration of new votes is not an easy practice even for literate people.

Mr Minhaz, when contacted, explained that the Election Commission would look into complaints regarding the missing names and other discrepancies in the list after July 3, which was the last date for display of the voters’ list.

Individuals who attained the age of 18 years before January 1, 2007, and possessed national identity cards can be enrolled as voters, while Form IV for inclusion, Form VI for correction and Form V will be used for objections, he added.

When asked about the decline in the number of voters, he did not give an exact reason, but said: “There was no restriction on the registration of voters without NICs in 2002, but now according to new rules only NIC holders can register their votes.” The other reason is lack of interest among the public, he said.