ISLAMABAD: Categorically rejecting the impression that magnetic ink had impacted 2013 general elections, the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms (PCER) was informed Monday that National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) can verify thumb impression of both magnetic and well as normal ink.

If the thumb impression is clear without any overlapping or misprint, it would be read by the Nadra system, whether done through Magnetic or normal inks, Nadra’s Director General Syed Muzaffar Nadir told the meeting.

“Nadra never said that it cannot verify thumb impression of the voters rather some thumb impression may be unreadable due to their overlapping or misprinting,” he said.

The committee, that has been constituted to introduce electoral reforms in the country, was chaired by Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar.

Dar said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) adopted the same procedure for conducting the general elections which is being practiced for last 40 years.

So if there are any shortcomings in the system that needed to be removed, Dar said and suggested to the ECP to introduce biometric system in next general elections to ensure transparency.

He said that the thumb impression through magnetic ink was not mandatory, and when the other record such as photograph, name, CNIC number were already available to verify voters, the thumb impression was an additional thing to make the process more credible.

The minister said that the ECP should have given immediate response when the issues like printing of ballot papers and magnetic ink were raised.

Speaking about the rejected votes, Dar said that 32 out of 1000 votes were rejected in 2013 elections compared to 27 votes out of 1000 in 2008.

Secretary ECP terms elections 2013 as most laudable

In his detailed briefing, Secretary Election Commission Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan presented a fact-sheet about the general elections of 2013 and elaborated how these elections were transparent and credible in the history of Pakistan.

He said the 2013 elections represented significant milestone and a vital step on a path to a strong, stable and democratic Pakistan.

Ishtiaq Ahmad said that the international and local election observers, organisations and prominent personalities declared the polls free, fair credible and successful.

He said the reports of important organisations and statements of international personalities including United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are a proof of the successful holding of the elections.

The ECP secretary said that international observers like election observer mission of Japan, International Human Rights Commission, European Union Observation Mission, Commonwealth observers, Malaysian Commonwealth Studies Center and Cambridge Malaysian Education and Development Trust have termed the report satisfactory and fair.

He said that UN chief Bank Ki-moon termed the elections first ever transition from one civilian government to another and US President Barack Obama welcoming Pakistan on historic peaceful and transparent transfer of civilian power, calling it significant milestone.

Ishtiaq Ahmed said that Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) carried out a survey and put the score of 2013 election at 56.76 per cent compared to 40 per cent in 2008 and 37.30 per cent in 2002 elections.

He said that there have been allegations against the ECP regarding the alleged printing of hundreds of thousand extra ballot papers during the 2013 general elections, which he said was devoid of an iota of truth. He said that the owner of the printing press in Urdu Bazaar, who was alleged to have printed extra ballot during the polls has been served a legal notice.

The ECP secretary said that those who have leveled these allegations should prove them before an appropriate forum.

Ishtiaq Ahmed said that decision regarding appointment of judicial officer to act as District Returning Officer/Returning Officers (DROs/ROs) in the elections was done on the request of political parties, including the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

To a question, he said that almost Rs4.73 billion were spent on the general elections which included Rs1.38 billion allocations to ROs/DROs and Rs1.7 billion as expenditures of printing.

In his detailed briefing, Managing Director Printing Corporation of Pakistan (PCP), Azhar Hussain Shamim said that due to lack of adequate staff, services of two private companies were acquired for numbering and binding of ballot papers.

In her remarks, PPP’s Member of National Assembly Shazia Marri said that electoral reforms were the need of the time.

“We are not here under any pressure, we want electoral reforms in the same manner we did the constitutional reforms,” she added.

The meeting was attended by Farooq H. Naek, Syed Naveed Qamar, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, Ejazul Haq, Talha Mehmood, Sahibzada Tariqullah, Abdur Rahim Mandokhel, Col (retd) Tahir Hussain Mashadi and others members.