Voters lists issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan were found full of mistakes and there were also duplication of voters' names, which created problems and confusion for the voters as well as polling staff in general elections on Monday.
Main complaint that was reported at various polling stations in the city was that name of eligible voters was not available in the fresh voter's lists. They complained that they had polled their vote in the last elections but now their name was not present in the list.
Interestingly, it was also reported that name of same person with same identity card was registered twice as a voter in the same constituency. One of the instances was of a journalist Itrat Bashir Ahmad who had two votes registered in the same constituency (NA 120) as voter number 354 at booth number 1 of polling station Girls Middle School Peoples Park number 67, and Gharana and the circle numbers 164 and 6, respectively. And the same person has been registered under vote number 307 at booth number 1 of polling station Government Happy High School National Town (No 48). His 'Gharana number' and the circle numbers are 166 and 1, respectively. Similarly, his wife Shazia Itrat had also been registered twice in the same voters list under vote number 270 at Girls Middle School Peoples Park polling station and 272 at Government Happy High School National Town.
Mistakes in names or identity card numbers were also reported by some of the voters. One voter Zahid Amir Baig had been mentioned as Shahid Amir Baig and first digit of his identity card was removed while putting in the voters' list. His identity card number is 35202-7988975-1 while in the voters' list it was quoted as 5202-7988975-1. Same treatment was met with his other family members, including his mother and younger brothers whose ID card number was not fully mentioned in the list. Another voter Professor Haroon Rashid Chaudhry complained that name of his father has been printed in the voters' list as Bashir Ahmed instead of Rashid Chaudhry.
Polling agents of various political parties reported duplication of votes and in one incident reported in Shadarah (NA 118) one voter had cast five votes at various polling stations.
Moreover, it seems that the awareness campaign of polling by the Election Commission (EC) had been ignored by many, as it was observed that many voters had come to polling stations with passports and a copy of ID cards. Since the EC had made original ID cards mandatory for casting of votes, they were not permitted to cast their votes.
While holding a passport in her hand, a lady voter in the FC College polling station complained to reporters that she was denied to exercise right to vote, although she has her passport to prove her identity. Another voter in Township complained that he has lost his ID card and has applied for new one and he had a Nadra receipt as a proof, but he was also denied to cast vote.