LAHORE, Aug 7: Not all complaints regarding the final electoral rolls would be entertained by the provincial elections commissions which claim to have legal discretion except with regard to some narrowly defined omissions, Dawn learnt on Wednesday.

The voters’ lists are currently on display for public scrutiny and objections.

Under Section 18 of Electoral Rolls Act, 1974, three types of amendments can be made in the final lists upon a public complaint. These are omitted names, moving a voter’s name to the area of his residence, and deleting multiple entries.

Punjab Election Commission officials told Dawn under the law making the amendments was not binding. Redressing a complaint, they said, was the “sole discretion” of the commission and the registration officer concerned.

Assistant election commissioner Khaliqur Rahman said if the authorities concerned did not feel the complaint was “appropriate” it could be reject forthwith or deferred until after the elections.

“It is impossible at this stage to make a correction on every complaint. The right given under Section 18 can be exercised in a very limited way,” Mr Rahman said.

He said it would be binding on the commission to redress a complaint only if it was made under the legal procedure laid down in Section 18 of Electoral Acts 1974. Outcome of all other complaints would be determined by ROs’ exercise of their discretion.

EC officials said the Commission had every right to refuse the complaints since a fair opportunity had already been afforded to the people to move corrections in February when they were given a 21-day notice to file objections to the draft electoral rolls.

They claimed that not a single complaint against the final list had been received so far.

Commission’s field staff in 34 districts has been provided with the final lists to make amendments approved by registration officers concerned.

The officials said 5,738,579 votes has been added to the lists as a result of objections to draft electoral rolls prepared by the commission in a 40-day enumeration campaign. The total number of votes in the final list is: Rawalpindi 1,995,044, Attock 791,857, Jhelum 583,904, Chakwal 750,980, Sargodha 1,508,885, Khushab 529,753, Mianwali 620,732, Bhakkar 559,354, Faislabad 3,147,895, Jhang 1,526,153, Toba Tek Singh 974,223, Gujranwala 2,062,683, Hafizabad 430,035, Gujrat 1,224,043, Mandi Bahaudin 727,967, Sialkot 1,554,686, Narowal 704,134, Lahore 3,156,835, Sheikhupura 1,781,107, Kasur 1,266,628, Okara 1,232,621, Multan 1,738,579, Lodhran 654,217, Khanewal 1,184,778, Sahiwal 1,061,068, Pakpattan 723,851, Vehari 1,132,345, Dera Ghazi Khan 903,499, Rajanpur 600,418, Muzzaffergarh (1,306,496), Layyah 582,577, Bahawalpur 1,370,689, Bahalwalnagar 1,147,462 and Rahim Yar Khan 1,718,360. In Islamabad, 384,070 voters have been listed.