LAHORE, Aug 5: Can someone duly enrolled with the Election Commission of Pakistan be prevented from exercising his right to vote in the elections? In normal circumstances the answer to this question is in the negative.

But the answer is quite different when the voters in question are members of the former ruling family, of which Mian Muhammad Sharif is the head.

Deposed prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, brothers Shahbaz Sharif and Abbas Sharif, wife Kulsoom Nawaz, sons Husain and Hasan and father Mian Sharif were not enrolled in the draft lists. However, they were registered as voters by the revising authority.

But as they are in exile, and the government has repeatedly stated they will not be allowed to come back before the completion of a term of 10 years, they will not be able to cast their votes in the Oct 10 elections.

And since the government has already decided not to allow the overseas Pakistanis to cast their votes in the elections, the Sharifs will not be able to use their right even from Saudi Arabia.

As many as 18 members of the family were banished to the kingdom in December 2000 and a majority of them are eligible voters.

According to lists displayed by the Election Commission, people mentioned above plus Nusrat Shahbaz and capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar are registered voters.

But the names of the mother and daughters of the deposed prime minister could not be traced from the lists.

Assistant Election Commissioner Khaleequr Rehman says the lists were put on display at various places on Monday and they could be seen for a week.

There are over 72 million eligible voters in the country. Of them more than 5.2 million were registered after the government lowered the voter age from 20 years to 18.

In various elections held in the past, the turnout has been varying between 34 and 52 per cent.