The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is acquiring sophisticated information technology to revolutionise the country's electoral management system with Pakistan's first error-free computerised electoral rolls-2011. In this regard, a 3rd high-level meeting between the ECP and USAID was held here on Friday under the chairmanship of Ishtiak Ahmed Khan, Secretary, ECP.
From USAID, Todd Sorenson, Deputy Director, office of Democracy and Governance, Valerie Smith, Deputy Controller, office of Financial Management, Imran Baloch, Financial Analyst, and Nazeer Mahar, Programme Consultant participated in the meeting. Muhammad Afzal Khan, Joint Secretary (Budget) and focal person for donors, Sheikh Jalil Ahmed, Deputy Secretary (Elections, Khizer Aziz, DG (IT) and senior officers of ECP were present in the meeting.
The Secretary, ECP appreciated the willingness of USAID to help strengthen the electoral system in Pakistan and said that funds under Kerry Lugar aid-package could be utilised in three important areas i-e. voter registration and preparation of computerised electoral rolls-2011, purchase of IT equipment at central, provincial and district levels, and purchase/construction of buildings for ECP field offices. He said that the main pre-requisite for holding free, fair and transparent elections is preparation of credible and error-free computerised electoral rolls through the ECP-Nadra collaboration and the ECP has already started actual ground work for preparation of error-free computerised electoral rolls.
In this regard, the ECP's data has been provided to Nadra for augmentation and Nadra has completed this process. Now, door to door verification will be started soon after house-listing by the National Census Organisation, which will be completed in April 2011 and the whole process of preparation of electoral rolls will be completed by December 31, 2011, Secretary, ECP observed.
Todd Sorenson of USAID said that the importance of accurate electoral rolls cannot be overstated and the USAID will be happy to provide assistance for it. He said that strengthening of the IT infrastructure at the provincial headquarters as well as districts level will provide a solid foundation for the successful implementation and operationalisation of the Computerised Electoral Rolls System. He assured USAID support for strengthening democratic system.-PR