TIMERGARA/BATTAGRAM: With the election commission having made women participation in polls mandatory, turnout in the July 25 general elections in Lower Dir and Battagram districts is likely to be high compared to the past elections, where women participation was hardly visible.

Political analysts in Lower Dir said on Monday that 177,746 fresh voters had been registered in the district since 2013, taking the number to 681,837, including 278,083 women. In 2013 elections, 504,091 were registered voters, including 206,325 women.

The district has two national assembly seats: NA-6, Dir I, and NA-7, Dir II, and five provincial assembly seats, including PK-13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. Before the delimitation, the district had one NA and four PA seats.

In the past women were either barred from voting or they did not come out to participate in the process due to cultural constraints, but this time the ECP has made it incumbent on the political parties to ensure 10 per cent of women vote in a constituency for the result to be declared authentic.

In Battagram district, women disenfranchisement has been a routine discriminatory practice in the male-dominated society where men even bar them from using their right to cast votes for favourite candidate, says Zeeshan Khan, the district election commissioner, while talking to Dawn on Monday.

He said during campaigns to highlight vote importance, they had registered more women voters along with men, adding the district election commission with the assistance of Nadra sent mobile registration vans to 76 blocks out of 126 throughout the district because women turnout in these areas during past elections was very low.

He said that only four per cent of women could cast their ballot in previous general elections as against 37 per cent of men.

Mr Zeeshan said total number of registered voters was 209,322, which included 87,915 women, while in 2018 general election total number of registered voters increased to 258,155, including 105,858 women, thus registering an increase of 17,943 fresh women voters.

He said keeping in view the local Pakhtun culture and traditions, polling stations had been established in the places where women could cast their vote easily. He hoped that total turnout would be high, particularly that of women.

Earlier, in two union councils of PK-28 women were barred from voting due to which the election commission announced re-polling in the UCs, he said, adding this time around the electoral watchdog would not allow any maneuvering by political parties to keep women away from the polling process.

He added that according to the section 9 of the Election Act, 2017, if the turnout of women voters was less than 10 per cent of the total votes polled in a constituency, the commission might declare polling at one or more polling stations or election in the whole constituency void.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2018