Election Commission must provide provisional electoral lists in electronic form for parties to run checks, says PPP

Questions why about half of voters in Sindh have neither been given NADRA cards nor enrolled

Says this is rigging before first cast of ballot
 

Islamabad, 11 June 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party calls upon the Chief Election Commissioner to immediately issue all major political parties the electronic provisional electoral lists to show his impartiality, said former Prime Minister and Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party in a statement today
 
Mohtarma Bhutto said that the law permitted the Election Commission to do so. Moreover, in India lists were given to parties because such lists are tamper proof when protected.
 
She said that the electronic format of provisional electoral lists was essential for political parties to verify through electronic checks whether an honest job was being done.
 
The Pakistan Peoples Party believes that a test of the impartiality of the Election Commission is to provide the provisional lists in electronic format to political parties. Failure to do so will give rise to the suspicion that the Election Commission has something to hide and will cast a shadow over the elections even before the first ballot is case.
 
The Pakistan Peoples Party believes that it is the constitutional duty of the Election Commission to hold honest elections. However, unfortunately in the past Election Commissions have broken the law with impunity by failing rigging to stop through collusion or impunity.
 
Mohtarma Bhutto said that the people of Pakistan are no longer prepared to accept rigging of elections. The recent movement of the masses supporting the Chief Justice who was ousted on corruption charges is a trailer of the movement that will begin if the anti people forces try to steal another election in a country groaning with poverty, injustice, lawlessness, militancy, terrorism and extremism.
 
The Pakistan Peoples Party is concerned over the missing twenty million votes in the new electoral rolls. It has been argued that the missing votes are the ghost votes of past elections. However, if this is the case then the Election Commission should not be reluctant to offer its electoral list to the stakeholders, namely the political parties as well as NGOs and civil groups in electronic format to hold verification checks.
 
The PPP understands that so far the Election Commission has declined to issue the electronic version of the provisional electoral lists on the ground that the Constitution does not insist they do so. However, the Constitution does not prohibit the ECP from giving out the provisional electoral lists so this argument of the ECP does not satisfy the stakeholders whose suspicion about provisional electoral lists needs to be removed.
 
Further the PPP demanded that the sole identification clause be removed and any government identity be accepted at time of polling to prove identity such as a passport, arms licence, drivers licence etc which are issued by government bodies.
 
According to media reports, a survey conducted by IRC for the Asian Foundation, about 60 per cent people of the Khairpur district do not have Computerised Identity Cards, while 40 per cent adult population of Sukkur also remain without them. As per media report IRC informed the media that a network working for the Asian Foundation conducted the survey on the issue in three districts of Khairpur, Shikarpur and Sukkur and found that more than 50 per cent women in the Shikarpur district were without CNICs and not enrolled in the voters' lists.  Besides, more than 60 per cent people in Khairpur and 40 per cent in Sukkur had not yet obtained their CNICs while the majority of the women in these districts are not even aware of the introduction of the CNIC and enrolments in the voter lists.
 
Additionally, Provincial head of the Election Commission reportedly admitted the failure of the voter registration process in Sindh province, which PPP believes reflects the trend in other provinces also. According to media Election Commission member Sindh in his statement admitted that more than 5 millions of the people of Sindh had not yet been enlisted in the new voters lists, as they did not have the new identity cards being issued by NADRA and ECP did not therefore enrol them in the lists.