ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will have about 84 million names in the electoral rolls for the next election, to be published by Election Commission next year, according to an estimate made by National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra).

With the verification of Final Electoral Rolls-2007 by Nadra on the instructions of the commission, the total number of eligible voters has been reduced to 80.7 million in the draft 2011 voters list.

However, according to a spokesman for Nadra, registration of CNIC holders is an ongoing process, and already another 1.8 million people who attained the age of 18 years since the last list was shared with the commission have been given computerised national identity cards.

He said their estimates showed that the number of entries in the voter list would increase to 84 million when the final version would be issued by the EC in 2012.

Responding to various queries by Dawn, the spokesman explained that 37.18 million names had been deleted either because of the absence of any record with Nadra or due to multiple entries in the voters’ list. He denied the impression that the voteshad been removed on the basis of political affiliation of the voters.

“The ballot paper is the only document which carries a voter’s choice but it does not carry identity of the voter,” said the spokesman, adding: “it cannot be established who the verified votes belonged to.”

Referring to Section 26 of the Election Rolls Act 1974, the spokesman said that despite the presence of 45.78 per cent unverified names in the 2007 voter list, the election results was considered valid as the elections were held under the list that had been approved by the authority concerned at that time.

According to rules, “validity of electoral rolls, not affected by reason of any mistake, an electoral roll will not be invalid by reason of any misdescription of a person enrolled thereon or of omission of the name of any person entitled to be so enrolled or of inclusion of the name of any person not so entitled”

The spokesman cited Section 23 of the same act, saying the voter list remained valid till its revision and publication of the revised rolls.

The spokesman said that under these sections of the act, the Final Electoral Rolls-2007 were still legally intact until publication of revised electoral rolls by the Election Commission in 2012.

Regarding addition of 36 million names in the Draft Voters List-2011, the spokesman said it had been done by the EC on the recommendations of Nadra as these voters were not present in the previous list.

The EC is also conducting door-to-door verification of these augmented records and as a result of this exercise, the EC will enrol them as voter.