Door-to-door enumeration of Electoral Rolls 2011: Nadra resists ECP plan

National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) has resisted Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) plan to start door-to-door enumeration for preparation of fresh Computerised Electoral Rolls-2011. There are some hidden forces that are not willing to give room to complete transparency in elections process, as they have their own vested interests, well informed sources in Nadra revealed to Business Recorder on Thursday.
It is sure that computerised electoral rolls based on database of Nadra could ensure transparency in election process and give people their right to elect their representatives, they said, adding that making the CNIC mandatory for registration as voter and casting vote is key for making dodge proof electoral rolls.
Due to law and order situation enumerators cannot go in various areas like Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), Swat and other parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, which means a huge part of population was deprived of their right to adult franchise.
For sensitive areas, the ECP wants to involve armed forces to facilitate the security of enumeration staff for smooth completion of the process, Nadrasources said, adding that this will also have some implications. The ECP is using about 200,000 male teachers, as enumerators, which means they cannot approach women folks resulting to compromise the participation of women in election process, they said.
The Electoral Rolls were prepared by the ECP in 2006-07 on the basis of census blocks adopted by the Census Organisation in National Census-1998, they said, adding that there are huge errors like duplication, wrong entries and errors of addresses as well. However, he said that after making correction Nadrahanded over corrected electoral rolls to ECP with 50 per cent more eligible voters included in the rolls.
Talking to this scribe Deputy Chairman of NadraTariq Malik said that Nadra has ensured full support to ECP in its endeavour for preparation of computerised electoral rolls. "We have offered all available resources to ECP, including mobile registration vans, district registration offices, manpower and database for making the program a success," Malik said, adding that Nadrawill also help in printing of the electoral rolls. Computerisation of electoral rolls is not less than the passage of 18th Amendment as by cleaning the electoral rolls, people are being empowered to elect or reject a person standing in elections, Malik said.
He said that the ECP is convinced to start door-to-door enumeration for preparation of fresh Computerised Electoral Rolls-2011 from May, but Nadra has asked them to use the available database for preparation of the electoral rolls. He said that the Statistic Division has urged to increase number of Census Blocks from 102,000 to 145,000 for preparation of accurate fresh Computerised Electoral Rolls-2011.
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 and cause confusion to voters, Malik said. He said that the Nadra has asked the Statistics Division to provide the updated list of demarcated Census Blocks, Circles and Charges along with relevant maps for official use and guidance during enumeration process.
He said that the Nadra during the pilot project of scrutinising electoral rolls of four districts has found 40 percent inaccuracies in electoral rolls, which is very high and makes a question mark to election process. Nadra in best national interest completed the pilot project free of cost and without signing any agreement. It is pertinent to note that the ECP has spent Rs 1.2 billion on computerisation of Electoral Rolls under Computerised Electoral Rolls System (CERS), but the mistakes in manual rolls were included in the new system.