Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) has expressed grave concern over the drastic reduction in female voters in the NWFP, which has seen the number of registered female voters decreasing by 45 percent from 3.92 million in 2002 to 2.17 million in 2007.
In contrast to this significant reduction in women voters, the male voters in the province has registered a nominal reduction of less than six percent despite an overall reduction of voters in the country by about 28 percent. The number of women voters has registered a drastic decrease of 96 percent in Fata, 41 percent in Sindh, 37 percent in Punjab and 19 percent in Islamabad Capital Territory, PILDAT said.
In contrast to the other provinces and the ICT, Balochistan has registered an increase in women voters but the increase appears too good to be real. The number of registered women voters has increased by 144 percent from about 470,000 in 2002 to 1.14 million in 2007 in Balochistan.
The male voters in Balochistan have also registered an extra-ordinary increase by 104 percent. Another significant finding of PILDAT analysis is that the percentage reduction in women voters in the country is more than twice the reduction in male voters. While the number of women voters has dropped by 39 percent, male voters have dropped by 19 percent.
This has led to shrinking of the share of women voters in the total number of voters. The women voters, who constituted 40 percent of the total voters in 2002, have shrunk to 30 percent of the total voters in 2007.
PILDAT's analysis is based on the break-up of 2002 Electoral Rolls and 2007 Preliminary Computerised Electoral Rolls both of which are released by the ECP.
PILDAT expressed surprise at omission of Fata voters from the break-up of 2007 Preliminary Computerised electoral Rolls given in the ECP Press Release of June 5, 2007. PILDAT has already expressed concern at an overall reduction in the number of voters in the country from 71.86 million in 2002 to 52.1 million in 2007.-PR
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