LAHORE, Nov 3: Preparation of electoral rolls for general elections will start from Jan 1, a meeting of the Election Commission of Pakistan was informed on Saturday.

The meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Justice Abdul Qadeer Chaudhry (retired) was told that the Ministry of Finance had assured the Election Commission of Pakistan of allocation of required funds.

The meeting was held to finalize matters relating to the electoral rolls.

Meetings with the National Database and Registration Authority officials had already been held to ensure preparation of error-free rolls within the specified time.

The meeting, also attended by the Election Commission secretary, the director-general (LGE), the provincial election commissioners and the joint secretaries of election, budget and administration, approved the schedule for the preparation of electoral rolls 2002.

Mr Justice Chaudhry directed the participants to ensure that no foreigner was enrolled as a voter. “The registration staff should be vigilant about foreign nationals, who might have attained a Pakistani passport or national identity cards.”

He also directed timely disbursement of wages to the staff (mostly schoolteachers) hired by the EC for enumeration and verification. There had been complaints in the past regarding payment of wages to the enumeration staff.