There is a gender gap of around 12.5 million in Pakistan's electoral rolls. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) report on the final electoral rolls for 2018, women comprised 44.1 percent of approximately 105 million citizens registered as voters. This situation restricts a significant percentage of Pakistani women from exercising their right to choose their political representatives and participate in electoral processes.
It happens so, because this massive number of women does not have their CNICs leading to their ineligibility for registration as voters. In addition to their disenfranchisement as voters and possibility of contesting elections, non-issuance of CNICs by default inflicts lots of restrictions on their eligibility for accessing and availing their legally admissible rights, entitlements and privileges in personal and professional spheres of their lives.
Baidarie Sialkot is making continuous efforts to squeeze this gender gap in voter registration at the level of district Sialkot. Implementing its programme "Strengthening Electoral and Legislative Process" with the support provided by Trust for Democratic Accountability and Education (TDEA), Election Commission of Pakistan and National Database and Registration Authority it facilitated 45,000 women during 2019 to obtain their computerized National Identity Cards and get them registered as voters. By March 2020, the organization plans to provide facilitation to 25,000 more women to get their CNICs and become eligible for registration as voters.
The organization feels that there is need to make persistent efforts to overcome the structural, institutional and cultural barriers restricting women from obtaining their legal identity document, the CNIC. Every day a new lot of women who crosses the 18 years age bar and becomes entitled to get CNIC but does not get that easily.
It resultantly adds to piling up of the already massive number of disenfranchised women. It is needed therefore that in addition to providing more human, technical and logistical resources at the level of their National Registration Centers (NRCs) and Mobile Registration Centers (MRVs) for entertaining each and every applicant, massive drive for awareness raising, identification of non-holders of CNICs and provision of facilitation services must be put in place for minimizing the number of women non-holder of CNICs and non-registrants as voters. Since most of the women belonging to poor social segments do not have CNICs, it is necessary that CNIC issuance fee may be waived off for the women & girl applicants.
It may also be helpful if elimination of gender gap in issuance of CNICs is made mandatory for the NADRA operations.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
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