ISLAMABAD, March 15: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought explanation in 10 days from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) on the inclusion of over 36 million fake and bogus voters in electoral rolls of different constituencies which had put a question mark on the credibility of the Feb 2008 general election.

A two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and Justice Ghulam Rabbani has taken up the matter on a petition filed by Mubasher Lucman, a television anchor. The court asked Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq to assist the court in the public interest case.

According to media reports, Nadra found out through an exercise that the electoral rolls prepared for the conduct of Feb 2008 election contained over 36 million bogus entries.

The revelation came when Nadra received data of 81.2 million people for verification so that error-free computerised electoral rolls for the next election could be developed. The verification process found that only 44.02 million of the 81.2 million entries were valid.

The petition, filed through Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, requested the court to order the ECP to come up with reasons for discrepancies between the electoral rolls maintained by the commission and the database prepared by Nadra.

The petitioner contended that it was the duty of the ECP to ensure free and transparent elections through honest, just and fair exercise and in accordance with the law. “If a representative is elected through a non-transparent process because of lack of due diligence in the preparation and maintenance of electoral rolls and becomes a member of the National Assembly or a provincial assembly, the right of people to elect their representatives is negated,” the petitioner pleaded.

Mr Lucman said it was a constitutional obligation of the ECP to compare its entire electoral roll with the database of Nadra and rectify electoral rolls accordingly, well in time before the next elections.