New voter lists to be kept at 70,000 display centres

Provincial Election Commissioner Qamar-uz-Zaman said on Sunday new electoral lists would be kept at 70,000 display centres across the country, so as to masses could check their names and other details in them.
He said this while addressing a workshop on Investigative Reporting for General Elections, jointly organised by the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) and The Asia Foundation, at a local hotel.
He said it was the need of hour that people should verify their names and other details in the electoral lists. He said the election system of our country was fair and transparent as compared to many other countries but the main problem was the parties and candidates who did not accept their defeat in the elections and rather level allegations of rigging.
Qamar-uz-Zaman said the Election Commission always took action against rigging if Presiding Officer or Returning Officer of any Polling Station complained in this connection.
The Provincial Election Commissioner said we would make efforts to provide transparent ballot boxes at the Polling Stations in the next general elections, so that reservations in this connection could be brought to an end.
Welcoming monitoring of elections by media, the Provincial Election Commissioner said that media played a positive role for elections and its role in this connection would help ensure the general elections more transparent and fair.
To a question, he said allegations of rigging in NA-250 by-election by the Pakistan Peoples Party were wrong because of the fact that it had never obtained more than 12,000 votes from this constituency.
To another question, Qamar-uz-Zaman said list of staff of Polling Stations should be prepared 15 days before the elections day. He said the lists of election staff would not be provided to the candidates as they used to exert pressure on them.
PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali said that journalists could carry out the coverage of elections in a better way in view of this training workshop because this would help them to find facts about elections.
Prominent journalist Ghazi Salahuddin said that journalists should keep in mind their responsibilities and code of ethics while performing their duties during election.