According to a press report, the Federal Minister of Interior is unhappy with the Election Commission of Pakistan's decision to involve a foreign organisation in the computerisation of electoral rolls. The ministry had wanted Nadra to do the job on its own. Yet overriding its reservations, the EC has gone ahead to have the International Foundation for Electoral System to computerise the electoral rolls with the financial and technical support of the US Agency for International Development.
The EC, of course, is within its rights to exercise its newly acquired independence, but in so doing it should act carefully so as not to create unnecessary controversies. The justification behind the move seems to be irregularities in the electoral lists prepared by a local firm in 2007 for the next year's national elections.
The issue created much trouble for the EC after the PTI Chairman Imran Khan approached the apex court with a petition challenging the electoral lists, and the latter declared as many as 37 million voters as fake. That though does not mean local firms are not fit to do the job.
The massive error could be intentional given that at the time the country was ruled by a military dictator who sought to prolong his stay in power through the electoral process. It is anybody's guess who he would have wanted to take advantage of the fake votes to ensure his own success. After the landmark 20th Amendment which guarantees the EC's independence, there is no room for deliberate errors.