Electoral rolls: ECP to finalise data entry by April 14

Election Commission of Pakistan will be forwarding the data on entries and corrections in Computerised Electoral Rolls to National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) by April 14, 2012. An official at Election Commission (ECP) told APP on Monday that the Commission is comparing and verifying the data collected by its district offices as well as NADRA and it will be forwarded to NADRA for updating the rolls.
NADRA, thereon will complete the entries into the provisional electoral rolls within a couple of weeks after receiving the data, the official said, adding, then the rolls will be sent for final printing. The official claimed that since the display of provisional lists at display centers no complaint has been received regarding a missing vote or double entry.
"Some voters have applied for change of address. But, no complaint surfaced regarding a missing vote or double entry," he said. "This speaks clearly of the sincerity of the Commission and NADRA to achieve the milestone of preparing error free electoral rolls," he claimed.
The ECP had set the deadline of March 20 for objections and corrections in the electoral rolls and after the expiry of the deadline, is now compiling the data for final entries into rolls by NADRA. "We have eased the procedure. Now the corrections and entries will continue till announcement of the elections schedule," the official added.
The process of compiling computerised rolls was started when the Supreme Court of Pakistan had directed the Commission to remove anomalies from electoral rolls as it was revealed before the court that over 38 million voters in the lists were not registered with NADRA. When asked to comment on reports about sharing the data of electoral rolls with an international NGO, the Commission spokesperson rejected the reports and said, 'no data was shared with any NGO.' "We are very strict on secrecy of the data. Therefore, it cannot be shared with anyone," he categorically stated.
Mentioning the name of International Foundation for Electoral System (IFES), he stated that the NGO was collaborating with the Commission in different election related activities. To this regard, he especially mentioned recent co-operation of the NGO in running media and awareness campaigns.
This NGO has also helped the Commission in training the staff and creating awareness among the masses about electoral process, importance of their votes and persuading them to actively take part in processes like compilation of electoral rolls. "But, it has no participation in key policy making and other confidential affairs of the Commission," he added. The spokesperson said the NGO works within its parameters defined by the Commission and there was no question of handing it over the data regarding electoral rolls and other confidential matters.