Verification of electoral rolls: ECP to start door-to-door campaign in August

On the request of National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided to start door-to-door campaign for verification of electoral rolls from August 8, 2011.
The ECP had earlier announced to start the verification campaign from July 18, but called it off after NADRA requested the ECP to postpone the process, as printing of Draft Electoral Rolls of 80 million people would take some more time, sources in ECP told Business Recorder.
The verification process will now start from August 8 and will continue till September 17, during which over 100,000 persons will go door-to-door for verification of the electoral rolls.
They said that Nadra had apprised ECP about practical problems, which caused delay in printing of more than 80 million voters' details in the Draft Electoral Rolls in time. Nadra requested for revision of timelines earlier set by the ECP for door-to-door verification drive, they added.
They said that around 100,000 enumerators were being trained by ECP, which would conduct verification at the newly devised 145,000 census blocks across the country with the efforts of Census Organisations.
They said the ECP on the request of NADRA increased the number of Census Blocks from 102,000 to 145,000 and blocks were expanded as well. People having two addresses would be given option to get registered as voter at their place of choice.
One Census Block contains 200 to 250 houses or 1200 to 1500 people and the Census Department wants to expand the blocks, which will change the composition of polling stations, causing confusion to voters.
The electoral rolls would be finalised with the help of data of over 80 million adults provided by NADRA and the voter lists made in Final Electoral Rolls 2007, they added.
The final voters' list will be displayed for 21 days in October at different locations across the country so that the citizens can check their names and complain about any error, objection, correction, they said.
It is sure that computerised electoral rolls based on database of NADRA would ensure transparency in election process and give people their right to elect their representatives, sources said, adding that making the CNIC mandatory for registration of voter and for casting vote is key for making dodge proof electoral rolls.
It is pertinent to note that the ECP with the help of NADRA is preparing transparent database and the CNIC number would be used as a unique identifier for the existing voters' list to discourage the trend of fake voting and to avoid double entry. It is for the first time in the history of Pakistan that such electoral rolls database is going to be prepared, which will eliminate all possibility of double and bogus voter lists.