Over 10mln women added in electoral rolls in recent months:CEC

ISLAMABAD, Oct 09 (APP):The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has enrolled some 10.2 million eligible women in the electoral rolls during its recent drives aimed at bridging the gender gap in the electoral rolls.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja said while addressing to an Orientation Workshop for Senior Management of Election Commission and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) on Phase-IV of the Campaign, which started in July 2021, he said the ECP was trying to bridge the gender gap in the electoral rolls.

Raja said more than one million women have been registered in the electoral rolls with the support of NADRA and civil society organizations during the first three phases.Until April 2021, there was a gap of 12.3 million between male and female voters.The ECP would be launching the fourth drive in 84 districts of the country aiming to enroll as many women as they could to ensure implementation on article 25 of the constitution.

He said ECP was striving to improve electoral participation of vulnerable communities including women, persons with disabilities, transgender persons and non-Muslim minorities aimed at bringing down the gender gap on electoral rolls before the General Elections 2023.

Raja lauded the role of NADRA in facilitating the entire process.
Addressing the workshop, the NADRA Chairman expressed his gratitude to the CEC for bringing together all relevant officials of Election Commission and NADRA which will ensure better planning, effective coordination and greater institutional ownership of this critically important issue of under-registration of women voters.

He said that the NADRA will undertake necessary measures to smoothen the process of CNIC registration for vulnerable communities, particularly women, which is a legal prerequisite for their registration as voters.

He also instructed the NADRA senior staff to provide the required assistance to Election Commission and other civil society organizations implementing the Campaign, which includes provision of Mobile registration Vans whenever requisitioned by the election Commission under the campaign.

The Orientation Workshop was also attended by Election Commission Members from Sindh and Balochistan, NADRA Chairman Tariq Malik, ECP Secretary Omer Hamid Khan, Special Secretary Zafar Iqbal, Additional Secretary Manzoor Ahmed Malik, Provincial Election Commissioners, Directors General of NADRA’s eight regions around the country and senior officials from both organizations. Representatives of the civil society organizations and development partners also attended the workshop.

The Workshop was briefed on a series of measures that the Election Commission has so far taken to create an enabling environment for vulnerable communities to participate in the electoral processes and discussed mitigation plans to address multi-layered challenges that inhibit progress particularly in difficult and diverse terrains of the country.