Registration of new voters begins today

The Election Commission (EC) is starting registration of voters on Saturday to prepare new electoral roll for the next general elections, expected to be held in 2007. Registration officers will distribute forms door to door across the country to enroll the citizens of 18-year and above.
It is learnt that the EC has appointed 144 registration officers, 2237 assistant registration officers, 28,992 supervisors and 86,740 numerators for distribution of voter registration forms across the country.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), former Justice Qazi Farooq Ahmed has directed the officials to complete the registration before May 30, 2007.
The CEC asked all male and female citizens, who have attained 18-year and above age on January 01, 2006 and are holding computerised identity cards issued by Nadra, to get their names registered in the voters list.
The EC has appointed teachers as supervisors and numerators. The EC will also acquire services of at least 500 judges at district level to review the preliminary electoral lists and make necessary changes wherever required.
Qazi Farooq said that the current electoral lists, which were prepared in 2001 and reviewed in accordance with the law in 2004-05, to be improved following the huge influx of the rural population to the urban areas.
The CEC asked the people to cooperate with the registration officials and make sure that their names are included in the electoral lists. He also called upon NGOs, political leaders and workers to create awareness among the masses particularly of rural areas about the importance of getting their names registered in the voters' lists and help the EC in updating the electoral lists.
Sources in the EC said that the tentative electoral lists would be published on January 20, 2007 and claims and objections would be received by February 2007 and the final electoral lists would be ready by May 4, 2007 to be sent to all the concerned registration officers.
"In case of any inconvenience of clarification the people should contact the call centers of EC that have already been established in the EC Secretariat, provincial EC, election commissioner and assistant commissioner offices at district level," the CEC advised.