Electoral roll verification drive begins

ISLAMABAD: The door-to-door voters' verification and authentication campaign has commenced across the country from Sunday. The first phase of the verification campaign would continue till December 6.

Registration powers have been given to a total of 142 officers including 42 in Punjab, 30 in Sindh, 35 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 34 in the Balochistan province for updating electoral rolls for next general elections of 2023. Likewise, as many as 2,065 Assistant Registration Officers have been posted to assist registration officers.

The second phase of electoral rolls' verification would commence from January 26 next year and continue till March, 11, 2022. All provincial election commissioners have been assigned the task to oversee all stages of the revision of electoral rolls in their respective provinces.

The preliminary draft of the electoral rolls would be displayed in designated display centers for public review. The public could also use the opportunity to register their complaints for corrections in the list, transfer of their votes to a permanent or temporary address written in their Computerized National Identity Cards (CNIC).

The voters could add their names to the list and remove the names of deceased voters and voters who had shifted elsewhere. The review officers would decide about the authenticity of voter lists' objections in their respective areas. ECP also asked the people to ensure getting their CNIC - a prerequisite for registration as a voter and exercising their right to franchise.

According to ECP, a person who was in the service of Pakistan could apply to the registration officer for enrollment in the electoral area in which he temporarily resided for being in the service of Pakistan and the facility was also available to his spouse and children.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has asked the voters to check their registration status on voters' lists by sending SMS with their Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) number to its service 8300.