ISLAMABAD, August 19(ABC): The apex poll body in the country on Friday made the startling concession that there were ‘loopholes’ in the voter lists and the electoral system according to which recent local bodies polls in Sindh and Balochistan were conducted and the recent by-elections in Punjab.
However, the poll body said that it has worked to fix the issues and that new voter lists will be available early next month.
This was disclosed by officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs. The committee meeting was chaired by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Taj Haider. Other senators who attended the meeting included Sania Nishtar, Azam Khan Swati, and Kamran Murtaza.
During Friday’s meeting, the special secretary of the ECP gave a detailed briefing to the committee on the irregularities found in the voter lists during the recent local bodies and by-elections.
Explaining the cause of irregularities, he told the committee that these elections were conducted according to the old voter lists. He conceded that there are still many loopholes in the electoral system.
However, the electoral official told the oversight committee that the ECP was working with the National Database Regulatory Authority (NADRA) to further improve the electoral system.
Explaining problems in the voter lists, he said that people often change their houses but due to lack of awareness, they do not update their new address with NADRA. This creates problems on election day۔
To reduce these issues, he said that the ECP has completed the process of door-to-door voter verification for creating new voter lists. These lists, he said, will be available after September 9.
In the upcoming polls, the ECP official said that a system of transmission of election results from polling stations under a secure Results Transmission System (RTS) system will be introduced in the upcoming elections using modern technology.
Moreover, he said that the commission will facilitate the timely delivery of signed Form 45 – the election results form duly signed by the presiding officer certifying the votes secured by each contesting candidate for a seat.