Election

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has directed the provincial election commissioners to initiate the process for revising electoral rolls from December 15, for the upcoming 2018 general elections. The ECP issued a notification in this regard, asking for the exclusion of names of deceased voters from the voter lists, and also those disqualified for the surrender of nationality or cancellation of CNICs. President Mamnoon Hussain launches the application “Click ECP” during the ceremony of National Voters’ Day. —APP The adjustment of census blocks will be based on the census block scheme 2017 issued by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Moreover, the process of enrolment of 5 million new voters will begin on December 15, read the notification carrying signatures of Deputy Director Elections Mohammad Zubair Kamal. The ECP teams will be conducting door-to-door visits for this. Revised voter lists will be published by January 8, while any claims or objections to these will be disposed of by February 16, 2018. The process of preparation, review, removal of objections, corrections, printing, and transfer to relevant centres will end on May 1, 2018. The ECP also held several events on Thursday to mark the second National Voters’ Day. In the main ceremony held in Islamabad, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza said the delimitation of constituencies would be completed before the next general elections after necessary legislation. All five elected assemblies of the country will complete their tenure by the end of May 2018. However, the Senate is yet to pass a delimitation of constituencies bill which could make it difficult for the elections to be held on time
Newspaper: Dawn
Newspaper Link: https://www.dawn.com/news/1375162

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has directed the provincial election commissioners to initiate the process for revising electoral rolls from December 15, for the upcoming 2018 general elections. The ECP issued a notification in this regard, asking for the exclusion of names of deceased voters from the voter lists, and also those disqualified for the surrender of nationality or cancellation of CNICs. President Mamnoon Hussain launches the application “Click ECP” during the ceremony of National Voters’ Day. —APP The adjustment of census blocks will be based on the census block scheme 2017 issued by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Moreover, the process of enrolment of 5 million new voters will begin on December 15, read the notification carrying signatures of Deputy Director Elections Mohammad Zubair Kamal. The ECP teams will be conducting door-to-door visits for this. Revised voter lists will be published by January 8, while any claims or objections to these will be disposed of by February 16, 2018. The process of preparation, review, removal of objections, corrections, printing, and transfer to relevant centres will end on May 1, 2018. The ECP also held several events on Thursday to mark the second National Voters’ Day. In the main ceremony held in Islamabad, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza said the delimitation of constituencies would be completed before the next general elections after necessary legislation. All five elected assemblies of the country will complete their tenure by the end of May 2018. However, the Senate is yet to pass a delimitation of constituencies bill which could make it difficult for the elections to be held on time

As the Election Commission of Pakistan took steps to bring women into the electoral fold with a special campaign to register them as voters, one group has called on the apex polling body to also strive to make the electoral process inclusive for the differently abled. Japan, UNDP team up to strengthen Pakistan’s electoral process The Pakistan Alliance for Inclusive Elections (PAIE) and the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), in a statement issued on Tuesday, said that there was no reason that this segment of the society should be left behind in exercising their democratic rights. Fatima Shah, a senior programme officer at CPDI, said that with the country close to another general election, it was time to focus on all facets of the electoral processes. “We need to make our electoral processes inclusive for all citizens, especially for the physically challenged,” she said, reminding that Pakistan is a signatory to and has also ratified the United Nation Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). “The convention clearly states in Article 29 that state parties will ensure PWDs political rights and provide the opportunity to enjoy them on an equal basis as others.” In this regard, Shah said that creating accessible polling stations was a crucial first step to bringing the physically challenged into the mainstream electoral processes. PAIE’s recent accessibility audit of polling stations in NA-4 Peshawar found that an overwhelmingly 95 per cent of sampled polling stations were not completely accessible to the differently abled. This situation, Shah said, warrants immediate corrective measures on part of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) since electoral events conceived and held while excluding a segment of the society are at odds with the true spirit of electoral democracy. The government has made a provision for the postal ballot for the differently abled in section 93 of the recently passed Election Act 2017, which allows such people to take part in the elections. ECP unveils plan for electronic voting Moreover, under section 48 of the act, the ECP is required to take special measures for registering differently in the electoral rolls. “These special measures are encouraging but we should never forget the importance and impact of being part of the mainstream procedure. The exposure that one receives by passing through the procedure on the Election Day in that environment has its own importance in the democratic training of the citizens,” Shah emphasised. Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2017
Newspaper: Express Tribune
Newspaper Link: https://tribune.com.pk/story/1576910

As the Election Commission of Pakistan took steps to bring women into the electoral fold with a special campaign to register them as voters, one group has called on the apex polling body to also strive to make the electoral process inclusive for the differently abled. Japan, UNDP team up to strengthen Pakistan’s electoral process The Pakistan Alliance for Inclusive Elections (PAIE) and the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), in a statement issued on Tuesday, said that there was no reason that this segment of the society should be left behind in exercising their democratic rights. Fatima Shah, a senior programme officer at CPDI, said that with the country close to another general election, it was time to focus on all facets of the electoral processes. “We need to make our electoral processes inclusive for all citizens, especially for the physically challenged,” she said, reminding that Pakistan is a signatory to and has also ratified the United Nation Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). “The convention clearly states in Article 29 that state parties will ensure PWDs political rights and provide the opportunity to enjoy them on an equal basis as others.” In this regard, Shah said that creating accessible polling stations was a crucial first step to bringing the physically challenged into the mainstream electoral processes. PAIE’s recent accessibility audit of polling stations in NA-4 Peshawar found that an overwhelmingly 95 per cent of sampled polling stations were not completely accessible to the differently abled. This situation, Shah said, warrants immediate corrective measures on part of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) since electoral events conceived and held while excluding a segment of the society are at odds with the true spirit of electoral democracy. The government has made a provision for the postal ballot for the differently abled in section 93 of the recently passed Election Act 2017, which allows such people to take part in the elections. ECP unveils plan for electronic voting Moreover, under section 48 of the act, the ECP is required to take special measures for registering differently in the electoral rolls. “These special measures are encouraging but we should never forget the importance and impact of being part of the mainstream procedure. The exposure that one receives by passing through the procedure on the Election Day in that environment has its own importance in the democratic training of the citizens,” Shah emphasised. Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2017

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday launched a project aimed at bridging the gap of over 12 million between male and female registered voters in the country. According to the electoral rolls of September 2017, of the 97.02m citizens registered as voters, 54.60m are men (56.27 per cent) and 42.42m are women (43.73pc). The gap between male and female voters has now gone up to 12.17m from 10.97m in March 2013. Speaking at the launch of the campaign to be run in collaboration with the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza said there was a broad international consensus that elections were the cornerstone of every democracy. He, however, noted that merely carrying out elections could not be considered a real democracy, unless essential principles were followed. “ECP believes that elections are free, fair and transparent if they are inclusive in which every segment of the society has an equal opportunity to participate,” he remarked. He said women made up almost half of the country’s population but their participation in the electoral process, specifically as voters, was low. “The underlying cause is the absence of national identity card (NIC) owing to different socio-cultural constraints,” he observed. “To me this means ignoring considerable number of our population in the decision-making process.” CEC says the commission will be documenting unregistered women in 79 districts He said the ECP was starting a female NIC and voter registration campaign targeting unregistered women in 79 districts across the country. He said through the campaign, women would be mobilised and facilitated to acquire NICs so that they could be enrolled as voters. The CEC said the campaign was a collaborative effort of the ECP, Nadra and civil society organisations working at grassroots level. Under its existing projects, the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) intends to reach out to more than 1.7m unregistered women to list, motivate and facilitate them to apply for NIC registration. Concrete efforts are required to lower the number of women who will potentially be disenfranchised from the 2018 general elections. Sources in the ECP said the time was too short as the electoral rolls were to be updated by April next year. They said keeping in view the deficiency of Nadra’s capacity and administrative hiccups, the target to register a bulk of the out-of-electoral rolls women was in all probability to be missed. They said the civil society was engaging with Nadra’s regional and local centres to facilitate registration of women across the country through separate windows (National Registration Centers – NRCs), provision of Mobile Registration Vans (MRVs) and registration camps outside Nadra offices. However, they have been facing challenges in coordinating with Nadra in some areas which affect the overall pace of the registration. Nadra has a limited number of MRVs. The available MRVs have predetermined schedules. Fewer MRVs are available for fresh registration of women in identified census blocks. Nadra’s NRCs do not have the facility to cater to large number of citizens. Many women cannot be facilitated at these centers due to a lack of separate windows. Nadra officials need more departmental approvals before engaging with civil society mobilisers. In some cases, the approvals take time and facilitation does not take place timely. When contacted, a civil society representative said civil society’s facilitation to first-time women applicants around Nadra centers in the form of camps could be very helpful. However, it remains a challenge to seek permission from Nadra for such camps. He said Nadra might increase working hours in districts with higher rates of under-registration, declare Saturdays a working day for all NRCs until April 2018, enhance MRVs capacity to process NICs (50 a day), coordinate MRV schedules with CSOs locally and ensure all NRCs issue free NICs to first-time registrants. He said administrative rules of Nadra might be amended to provide for allocation of special days and counters / windows for fresh registration of women at NRCs, Nadra might be instructed to consider prioritising allocation of MRVs for fresh registration of women in identified areas and to issue free cards to first-time women registrants instead of requiring them to acquire Smart Card which cost Rs400 per card. He said Nadra rules might be amended to provide for relaxation in departmental approvals for extending cooperation to civil society organisations working on fresh registration of women. Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2017
Newspaper: Dawn
Newspaper Link: https://www.dawn.com/news/1374614

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday launched a project aimed at bridging the gap of over 12 million between male and female registered voters in the country. According to the electoral rolls of September 2017, of the 97.02m citizens registered as voters, 54.60m are men (56.27 per cent) and 42.42m are women (43.73pc). The gap between male and female voters has now gone up to 12.17m from 10.97m in March 2013. Speaking at the launch of the campaign to be run in collaboration with the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza said there was a broad international consensus that elections were the cornerstone of every democracy. He, however, noted that merely carrying out elections could not be considered a real democracy, unless essential principles were followed. “ECP believes that elections are free, fair and transparent if they are inclusive in which every segment of the society has an equal opportunity to participate,” he remarked. He said women made up almost half of the country’s population but their participation in the electoral process, specifically as voters, was low. “The underlying cause is the absence of national identity card (NIC) owing to different socio-cultural constraints,” he observed. “To me this means ignoring considerable number of our population in the decision-making process.” CEC says the commission will be documenting unregistered women in 79 districts He said the ECP was starting a female NIC and voter registration campaign targeting unregistered women in 79 districts across the country. He said through the campaign, women would be mobilised and facilitated to acquire NICs so that they could be enrolled as voters. The CEC said the campaign was a collaborative effort of the ECP, Nadra and civil society organisations working at grassroots level. Under its existing projects, the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) intends to reach out to more than 1.7m unregistered women to list, motivate and facilitate them to apply for NIC registration. Concrete efforts are required to lower the number of women who will potentially be disenfranchised from the 2018 general elections. Sources in the ECP said the time was too short as the electoral rolls were to be updated by April next year. They said keeping in view the deficiency of Nadra’s capacity and administrative hiccups, the target to register a bulk of the out-of-electoral rolls women was in all probability to be missed. They said the civil society was engaging with Nadra’s regional and local centres to facilitate registration of women across the country through separate windows (National Registration Centers – NRCs), provision of Mobile Registration Vans (MRVs) and registration camps outside Nadra offices. However, they have been facing challenges in coordinating with Nadra in some areas which affect the overall pace of the registration. Nadra has a limited number of MRVs. The available MRVs have predetermined schedules. Fewer MRVs are available for fresh registration of women in identified census blocks. Nadra’s NRCs do not have the facility to cater to large number of citizens. Many women cannot be facilitated at these centers due to a lack of separate windows. Nadra officials need more departmental approvals before engaging with civil society mobilisers. In some cases, the approvals take time and facilitation does not take place timely. When contacted, a civil society representative said civil society’s facilitation to first-time women applicants around Nadra centers in the form of camps could be very helpful. However, it remains a challenge to seek permission from Nadra for such camps. He said Nadra might increase working hours in districts with higher rates of under-registration, declare Saturdays a working day for all NRCs until April 2018, enhance MRVs capacity to process NICs (50 a day), coordinate MRV schedules with CSOs locally and ensure all NRCs issue free NICs to first-time registrants. He said administrative rules of Nadra might be amended to provide for allocation of special days and counters / windows for fresh registration of women at NRCs, Nadra might be instructed to consider prioritising allocation of MRVs for fresh registration of women in identified areas and to issue free cards to first-time women registrants instead of requiring them to acquire Smart Card which cost Rs400 per card. He said Nadra rules might be amended to provide for relaxation in departmental approvals for extending cooperation to civil society organisations working on fresh registration of women. Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2017

The Election Commission of Pakistan Additional Secretary Dr Akhtar Nazir on Thursday said that all the necessary arrangements have been completed for the 2018 general elections but the electronic voting machines (EVMs) will not be used due to technical difficulties and lack of time. He was addressing a media workshop organised by the ECP in Karachi. A work order has been prepared for printing 200 million ballot papers under strict security, said the ECP official, adding that 85,744 polling stations and 268,286 polling booths would be set up for the polls. Giving further details, Nazir said that the returning officers (ROs) would be time-barred to issue verified official results by 2am. ‘Polling will be conducted again if turnout of women voters will be less than 10pc of the total votes in a particular polling station or constituency’, he added. A fine of Rs 100,000 along with three-year imprisonment would be handed down against attempts to stop women from using their right to franchise, said the ECP official, citing the recently enacted Election (amendment) Act 2017. According to the new law, he said two candidates will share two-and-a-half-year tenure as lawmaker each if managed to bag same number of votes. “Who will become member of the assembly first will be decided by mutual understanding of the two candidates,” he added.
Newspaper: The News
Newspaper Link: https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2017/11/23/

The Election Commission of Pakistan Additional Secretary Dr Akhtar Nazir on Thursday said that all the necessary arrangements have been completed for the 2018 general elections but the electronic voting machines (EVMs) will not be used due to technical difficulties and lack of time. He was addressing a media workshop organised by the ECP in Karachi. A work order has been prepared for printing 200 million ballot papers under strict security, said the ECP official, adding that 85,744 polling stations and 268,286 polling booths would be set up for the polls. Giving further details, Nazir said that the returning officers (ROs) would be time-barred to issue verified official results by 2am. ‘Polling will be conducted again if turnout of women voters will be less than 10pc of the total votes in a particular polling station or constituency’, he added. A fine of Rs 100,000 along with three-year imprisonment would be handed down against attempts to stop women from using their right to franchise, said the ECP official, citing the recently enacted Election (amendment) Act 2017. According to the new law, he said two candidates will share two-and-a-half-year tenure as lawmaker each if managed to bag same number of votes. “Who will become member of the assembly first will be decided by mutual understanding of the two candidates,” he added.

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Thursday passed the 24th Constitution Amendment Bill 2017 by a 242-1 vote, paving the way for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to carry out fresh delimitation of constituencies ahead of the next general elections on the basis of provisional census data. In a major development, in order to win the crucial support of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for the bill seeking reallocation of seats of the legislatures, the government in a last-minute meeting agreed to increase the number of auditable population census blocks from one to five per cent. It was during the extended Maghrib prayers break that NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq convened a meeting of parliamentary leaders of the MQM, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in his chamber after the Muttahida showed its reluctance to vote for the bill without addressing the party’s concerns over the census. • 24th Constitution Amendment Bill passed • MQM’s demand for audit of 5pc of census blocks accepted • Khatm-i-Nabuwwat declaration restored to original form Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was also called by the speaker to the meeting and it was on his assurance that the census issue would again be referred to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) for approving the MQM’s demand that a third-party audit of five per cent population blocks would be conducted, instead of one per cent as had been agreed at the CCI meeting, that the MQM agreed to vote for the bill. The ruling party — which faced great difficulties in ensuring the presence of its own members to fulfil the requirement of a two-thirds vote (228 in the 342-member house) — had no option but to accept the MQM demand. Before announcing his party’s support for the bill, MQM’s parliamentary leader Dr Farooq Sattar thanked the prime minister, the PPP and the PTI for addressing the party’s concerns in an effective manner. He said the MQM wanted to open 10pc of the population blocks, but other parties insisted on 5pc and the MQM agreed to it in the larger national interest in order to ensure continuity of the democratic system and timely elections. Parliamentary leader of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Sahibzada Tariqullah and Aftab Sherpao of the Qaumi Watan Party, however, complained that the speaker had not called them to the final meeting despite the fact that they had been invited to all the previous meetings on the issue. Although the number of seats in the National Assembly will remain 272, fresh delimitation would affect Punjab which will lose up to nine seats in the lower house. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will get five new seats, Balochistan three and Islamabad Capital Territory one additional seat. The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) will retain its 12 seats in the assembly. The issue of conducting fresh delimitation of constituencies had been stuck in deadlock for several days till the CCI had on Monday finally agreed to hold the elections on the basis of the provisional census results on the condition that a third-party audit of one per cent of the population blocks would be conducted within three months. It was on PPP’s demand that the government had convened the CCI meeting realising that the ruling party does not have the required two-thirds majority in the 104-member Senate to get the bill passed. The government also agreed to the MQM’s demand that their concerns over the census and the agreement reached between them should have a mention in the amendment bill and for that purpose the law minister changed the wordings of the “Statement of Objects and Reasons” attached to the bill. Independent MNA from Muzaffargarh Jamshed Dasti was the lone member who opposed the amendment, suggesting that the number of seats of the assemblies should not be changed without the release of the official and final results of the census by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. He was of the view that the move could be challenged in a court of law. The amended Statement of Objects and Reasons” of the bill reads: “The CCI in its meeting held on November 13, 2017 has approved publication of the provisional results of Census 2017 for purposes of Article 5l(5) as provided in this bill. The Council has also decided that third party validation will be carried out of one per cent census blocks proportionately in each province throughout the country selected by random computer ballot, before the final results are compiled. This will help address reservations and concerns expressed by the Sindh government, the PPP and the MQM regarding the provisional census results.” However, later on the demand of the PTI and other parties, the draft was further amended, mentioning the names of all the other parties. “The percentage of census blocks for which validation is to be carried out may change, if so decided by the CCI,” says the final draft of the law, which will now go to the Senate for its passage. The government has already convened a session of the Senate on Friday (today) for this purpose. Khatm-i-Nabuwwat Earlier, the National Assembly passed a bill to amend the Elections Act 2017 in order to restore a declaration for the voters regarding Khatm-i-Nabuwwat to its original form and make sections relating to the Ahmadi community more effective. Sections 7B and 7C of the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002 were also restored to their original form through the bill. Section 7B states that the status of Ahmadis remains as stated in the Constitution, whereas Section 7C says that if enrolled voters’ belief in the finality of prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him) is contended, they shall have to sign a declaration reaffirming their belief, failing which their “name shall be deleted from the joint electoral rolls and added to a supplementary list of voters in the same electoral area as non-Muslim.” Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2017
Newspaper: Dawn
Newspaper Link: https://www.dawn.com/news/1371018

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Thursday passed the 24th Constitution Amendment Bill 2017 by a 242-1 vote, paving the way for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to carry out fresh delimitation of constituencies ahead of the next general elections on the basis of provisional census data. In a major development, in order to win the crucial support of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for the bill seeking reallocation of seats of the legislatures, the government in a last-minute meeting agreed to increase the number of auditable population census blocks from one to five per cent. It was during the extended Maghrib prayers break that NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq convened a meeting of parliamentary leaders of the MQM, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in his chamber after the Muttahida showed its reluctance to vote for the bill without addressing the party’s concerns over the census. • 24th Constitution Amendment Bill passed • MQM’s demand for audit of 5pc of census blocks accepted • Khatm-i-Nabuwwat declaration restored to original form Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was also called by the speaker to the meeting and it was on his assurance that the census issue would again be referred to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) for approving the MQM’s demand that a third-party audit of five per cent population blocks would be conducted, instead of one per cent as had been agreed at the CCI meeting, that the MQM agreed to vote for the bill. The ruling party — which faced great difficulties in ensuring the presence of its own members to fulfil the requirement of a two-thirds vote (228 in the 342-member house) — had no option but to accept the MQM demand. Before announcing his party’s support for the bill, MQM’s parliamentary leader Dr Farooq Sattar thanked the prime minister, the PPP and the PTI for addressing the party’s concerns in an effective manner. He said the MQM wanted to open 10pc of the population blocks, but other parties insisted on 5pc and the MQM agreed to it in the larger national interest in order to ensure continuity of the democratic system and timely elections. Parliamentary leader of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Sahibzada Tariqullah and Aftab Sherpao of the Qaumi Watan Party, however, complained that the speaker had not called them to the final meeting despite the fact that they had been invited to all the previous meetings on the issue. Although the number of seats in the National Assembly will remain 272, fresh delimitation would affect Punjab which will lose up to nine seats in the lower house. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will get five new seats, Balochistan three and Islamabad Capital Territory one additional seat. The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) will retain its 12 seats in the assembly. The issue of conducting fresh delimitation of constituencies had been stuck in deadlock for several days till the CCI had on Monday finally agreed to hold the elections on the basis of the provisional census results on the condition that a third-party audit of one per cent of the population blocks would be conducted within three months. It was on PPP’s demand that the government had convened the CCI meeting realising that the ruling party does not have the required two-thirds majority in the 104-member Senate to get the bill passed. The government also agreed to the MQM’s demand that their concerns over the census and the agreement reached between them should have a mention in the amendment bill and for that purpose the law minister changed the wordings of the “Statement of Objects and Reasons” attached to the bill. Independent MNA from Muzaffargarh Jamshed Dasti was the lone member who opposed the amendment, suggesting that the number of seats of the assemblies should not be changed without the release of the official and final results of the census by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. He was of the view that the move could be challenged in a court of law. The amended Statement of Objects and Reasons” of the bill reads: “The CCI in its meeting held on November 13, 2017 has approved publication of the provisional results of Census 2017 for purposes of Article 5l(5) as provided in this bill. The Council has also decided that third party validation will be carried out of one per cent census blocks proportionately in each province throughout the country selected by random computer ballot, before the final results are compiled. This will help address reservations and concerns expressed by the Sindh government, the PPP and the MQM regarding the provisional census results.” However, later on the demand of the PTI and other parties, the draft was further amended, mentioning the names of all the other parties. “The percentage of census blocks for which validation is to be carried out may change, if so decided by the CCI,” says the final draft of the law, which will now go to the Senate for its passage. The government has already convened a session of the Senate on Friday (today) for this purpose. Khatm-i-Nabuwwat Earlier, the National Assembly passed a bill to amend the Elections Act 2017 in order to restore a declaration for the voters regarding Khatm-i-Nabuwwat to its original form and make sections relating to the Ahmadi community more effective. Sections 7B and 7C of the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002 were also restored to their original form through the bill. Section 7B states that the status of Ahmadis remains as stated in the Constitution, whereas Section 7C says that if enrolled voters’ belief in the finality of prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him) is contended, they shall have to sign a declaration reaffirming their belief, failing which their “name shall be deleted from the joint electoral rolls and added to a supplementary list of voters in the same electoral area as non-Muslim.” Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2017

ISLAMABAD: The Natio­nal Assembly is finally set to pass a crucial constitutional amendment bill on Thurs­day (today) seeking fresh delimitation of constituencies ahead of the upcoming general elections on the basis of provisional results of the population census. Talking to reporters after presiding over a meeting of parliamentary leaders, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq claimed that they had arrived at a consensus regarding the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2017 seeking re-allocation of seats of all national and provincial assemblies. Mr Sadiq, however, said that he had convened another meeting of parliamentary leaders before the National Assembly’s session will begin on Thursday, to seek a formal approval from all the parties since no one from the main opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) managed to attend the meeting on Wednesday. The parliamentary leaders have also agreed to table a bill in the lower house to restore Sections 7B and 7C of the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002 in their original form. In the Elections Act 2017, the above-mentioned sections, which relate to the status of Ahmadis, had been omitted. Advertisement Despite the fact that Mr Sadiq had spoken to Opposition Leader Syed Khursheed Shah over the telephone during the meeting and sought the PPP’s consent in the matter, parliamentarians of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and some other parties asked the speaker to convene another meeting so that they could hear the message directly from the PPP representatives. When contacted, Mr Shah confirmed that he had spoken to Mr Sadiq by telephone and had been taken into confidence over the decision. He confirmed that they had decided to pass the constitutional amendment Bill on Thursday. Mr Shah added that he had even told other participants of the meeting that the PPP had no objections to the passage of the bill since its demand that the Council of Common Interests (CCI) would have to approve of the bill had been accepted. He said that he had arrived in Islamabad for the meeting of parliamentary leaders, but had to rush back to Karachi with MNA Ghulam Mustafa Shah, who had suffered a heart attack earlier in the day. The issue of conducting fresh delimitation of constituencies had been stuck in deadlock for several days till the CCI, on Monday, finally agreed to hold the elections on the basis of the provisional results of the census on the condition that a third party audit of one per cent of the population blocks would be conducted within three months. The PPP had previously demanded that the amendment be approved by the CCI before being passed by the National Assembly and the Senate. Since the government did not have the required two-thirds majority in the 104-member Senate, it had to acquiesce to the PPP’s demand. The Sindh-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which had also protested against the controversial census data, had raised objections over the amendment bill at the parliamentary leaders’ meeting again. Talking to Dawn, MQM’s MNA Sheikh Salahuddin said he had suggested that the MQM’s concerns be mentioned in the “Statement of Objects and Reasons” of the Bill. He said the party was ready to support the bill in larger national interest if its concerns were addressed in an effective manner in the draft of the bill. He, however, said the MQM would arrive at a final decision about its vote on the bill on Thursday after an intra-party consultation. Khatm-e-Nubuwwat The parliamentary leaders also agreed to table a bill in the lower house to restore Sections 7B and 7C of the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002 in their original form. Section 7B says that the status of Ahmadis remains as stated in the Constitution of Pakistan, while Section 7C states that if an enrolled voter’s belief in the finality of Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) prophethood was contended, they would have to sign a declaration stating so, failing which their “name shall be deleted from the joint electoral rolls and added to a supplementary list of voters in the same electoral area as non-Muslim”. Though the government had argued that the sections had been omitted by clerical mistake, the omission had sparked protests in Islamabad by religious parties, disrupting public life and prompting police to set up shipping containers to prevent the protesters from entering the city. Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2017
Newspaper: Dawn
Newspaper Link: https://www.dawn.com/news/1370753

PESHAWAR: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Additional Secretary Zafar Iqbal on Wednesday said that in the next general elections, the voters will cast their votes in the constituency of which he/she has given the address on CNIC. Addressing a media workshop here, he said that ECP is introducing electoral reforms while keeping in view the past experiences, adding that except the government officers, all the voters would cast their votes in their own constituency. He said that the ECP remained fully engaged in the meeting of the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms and floated various suggestions to ensure transparent elections in future. The ECP official further stated that after thorough deliberations, the Elections Act, 2017 was approved and now the ECP would draft rules under this act. Zafar Iqbal informed that under the act, all the officials to be deployed on election duty would take an oath to ensure transparent casting of votes, adding that the provincial election commissioners would take oath from all district returning officers, while district election officers would take oath from returning officers. He also said that under the act, a formula has been drafted for printing of ballot papers and the returning officers would seal the record of tempering in the election in an evidence bag to keep it preserved for future investigation. On the occasion, Director General Muhammad Yousaf Khattak briefed the media about the new Election Act, 2017 and said that if the vote count remains less than 10 per cent in any constituency, ECP would declare the election results null and void for that constituency. He further said that the data of voter lists was now shifted to ECP from NADRA, and as per the data, the overall vote bank would be over 100 million. He also said that any candidate or his agent can obtain a copy of voters’ list from ECP through a formal application. He added that after May 1, 2018, the previous voters’ list would stand cancelled and the sitting assemblies would complete the terms by June 1, 2018. MIS Director Haider Ali said that use of technology in Peshawar NA-4 by-poll proved very helpful in finalising the election results. Gender Affairs Additional Director General Nighat Siddiqui told the participants of workshop that ECP was taking steps to ensure participation of all segments of society, adding that district voters’ education committees had been activated at the district level. She hoped an increase in the turnout of voters in the next general elections and said that as per the ECP data, women voting percentage was less in 79 constituencies of the country, where the commission has decided to arrange mobile vans with the collaboration of NADRA for registration of votes of women. The ECP Spokesman Haroon Shinwari said that ECP is fully ready for general elections at any time. He added that since the population census had been completed, therefore delimitations have become imperative now. To a question, the additional secretary told media that the estimated cost for the conduct of elections had also increased. He added that the ECP is going to celebrate National Voters Day on December 7, where awareness and sensitisation would be created among media, civil society and the general public.
Newspaper: Pakistan-Today
Newspaper Link: https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2017/11/15

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday transferred and posted dozens of officers in a major reshuffle ahead of the 2018 general elections. A total of 86 officers, including district and regional election commissioners and deputy directors in grades 17 and 18, were transferred via a notification. Of the transferred officers, nine have been transferred from the ECP Secretariat in Islamabad; 26, including the Lahore regional election commissioner, from Punjab; 13 from Sindh; 14 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; and 23 from Balochistan. Islamabad District Election Commissioner Muhammad Nadeem Zubair has been posted as the regional election commissioner Multan, while Farid Afridi will serve as the regional election commissioner in Lahore.
Newspaper: Pakistan-Today
Newspaper Link: https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2017/11/15/

ISLAMABAD: The Natio­nal Assembly is finally set to pass a crucial constitutional amendment bill on Thurs­day (today) seeking fresh delimitation of constituencies ahead of the upcoming general elections on the basis of provisional results of the population census. Talking to reporters after presiding over a meeting of parliamentary leaders, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq claimed that they had arrived at a consensus regarding the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2017 seeking re-allocation of seats of all national and provincial assemblies. Mr Sadiq, however, said that he had convened another meeting of parliamentary leaders before the National Assembly’s session will begin on Thursday, to seek a formal approval from all the parties since no one from the main opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) managed to attend the meeting on Wednesday. The parliamentary leaders have also agreed to table a bill in the lower house to restore Sections 7B and 7C of the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002 in their original form. In the Elections Act 2017, the above-mentioned sections, which relate to the status of Ahmadis, had been omitted. Advertisement Despite the fact that Mr Sadiq had spoken to Opposition Leader Syed Khursheed Shah over the telephone during the meeting and sought the PPP’s consent in the matter, parliamentarians of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and some other parties asked the speaker to convene another meeting so that they could hear the message directly from the PPP representatives. When contacted, Mr Shah confirmed that he had spoken to Mr Sadiq by telephone and had been taken into confidence over the decision. He confirmed that they had decided to pass the constitutional amendment Bill on Thursday. Mr Shah added that he had even told other participants of the meeting that the PPP had no objections to the passage of the bill since its demand that the Council of Common Interests (CCI) would have to approve of the bill had been accepted. He said that he had arrived in Islamabad for the meeting of parliamentary leaders, but had to rush back to Karachi with MNA Ghulam Mustafa Shah, who had suffered a heart attack earlier in the day. The issue of conducting fresh delimitation of constituencies had been stuck in deadlock for several days till the CCI, on Monday, finally agreed to hold the elections on the basis of the provisional results of the census on the condition that a third party audit of one per cent of the population blocks would be conducted within three months. The PPP had previously demanded that the amendment be approved by the CCI before being passed by the National Assembly and the Senate. Since the government did not have the required two-thirds majority in the 104-member Senate, it had to acquiesce to the PPP’s demand. The Sindh-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which had also protested against the controversial census data, had raised objections over the amendment bill at the parliamentary leaders’ meeting again. Talking to Dawn, MQM’s MNA Sheikh Salahuddin said he had suggested that the MQM’s concerns be mentioned in the “Statement of Objects and Reasons” of the Bill. He said the party was ready to support the bill in larger national interest if its concerns were addressed in an effective manner in the draft of the bill. He, however, said the MQM would arrive at a final decision about its vote on the bill on Thursday after an intra-party consultation. Khatm-e-Nubuwwat The parliamentary leaders also agreed to table a bill in the lower house to restore Sections 7B and 7C of the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002 in their original form. Section 7B says that the status of Ahmadis remains as stated in the Constitution of Pakistan, while Section 7C states that if an enrolled voter’s belief in the finality of Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) prophethood was contended, they would have to sign a declaration stating so, failing which their “name shall be deleted from the joint electoral rolls and added to a supplementary list of voters in the same electoral area as non-Muslim”. Though the government had argued that the sections had been omitted by clerical mistake, the omission had sparked protests in Islamabad by religious parties, disrupting public life and prompting police to set up shipping containers to prevent the protesters from entering the city. Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2017

PESHAWAR: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Additional Secretary Zafar Iqbal on Wednesday said that in the next general elections, the voters will cast their votes in the constituency of which he/she has given the address on CNIC. Addressing a media workshop here, he said that ECP is introducing electoral reforms while keeping in view the past experiences, adding that except the government officers, all the voters would cast their votes in their own constituency. He said that the ECP remained fully engaged in the meeting of the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms and floated various suggestions to ensure transparent elections in future. The ECP official further stated that after thorough deliberations, the Elections Act, 2017 was approved and now the ECP would draft rules under this act. Zafar Iqbal informed that under the act, all the officials to be deployed on election duty would take an oath to ensure transparent casting of votes, adding that the provincial election commissioners would take oath from all district returning officers, while district election officers would take oath from returning officers. He also said that under the act, a formula has been drafted for printing of ballot papers and the returning officers would seal the record of tempering in the election in an evidence bag to keep it preserved for future investigation. On the occasion, Director General Muhammad Yousaf Khattak briefed the media about the new Election Act, 2017 and said that if the vote count remains less than 10 per cent in any constituency, ECP would declare the election results null and void for that constituency. He further said that the data of voter lists was now shifted to ECP from NADRA, and as per the data, the overall vote bank would be over 100 million. He also said that any candidate or his agent can obtain a copy of voters’ list from ECP through a formal application. He added that after May 1, 2018, the previous voters’ list would stand cancelled and the sitting assemblies would complete the terms by June 1, 2018. MIS Director Haider Ali said that use of technology in Peshawar NA-4 by-poll proved very helpful in finalising the election results. Gender Affairs Additional Director General Nighat Siddiqui told the participants of workshop that ECP was taking steps to ensure participation of all segments of society, adding that district voters’ education committees had been activated at the district level. She hoped an increase in the turnout of voters in the next general elections and said that as per the ECP data, women voting percentage was less in 79 constituencies of the country, where the commission has decided to arrange mobile vans with the collaboration of NADRA for registration of votes of women. The ECP Spokesman Haroon Shinwari said that ECP is fully ready for general elections at any time. He added that since the population census had been completed, therefore delimitations have become imperative now. To a question, the additional secretary told media that the estimated cost for the conduct of elections had also increased. He added that the ECP is going to celebrate National Voters Day on December 7, where awareness and sensitisation would be created among media, civil society and the general public.