NADRA and ECP to reform electoral lists

National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) Deputy Chairman Tariq Malik on Thursday stated that in order to bring reforms in the electoral lists, communication between NADRA and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was obligatory. Malik said this while speaking at a conference organised by South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA). He said that the biometric database system which was introduced in 2005 was testimony to NADRA’s hallmark performance. “Over the last three years NADRA has already developed a large fingerprint and facial identity galleries through biometric data collection system which will help in achieving the goal set by the ECP,” said Malik. He said that NADRA had initiated a number of verification methods to ensure that no fake registrations were made during the ECP`s door to door enumeration campaign.
He said that the main thing that needed to be done was to bring electoral reforms to ensure one Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) per citizen. “We have noticed number of citizens who have more than 20 CNIC cards,” said Tariq. Regarding the increasing population and 2011 census survey, he said that the previous census was conducted in 1998 and the second would be held in 2011, but unfortunately it had fallen prey to many anomalies which needed to be rectified. With the increasing population, he said, electoral lists had also been expanding. He said their department was working to introduce a new strategy in which the person who got his or her CNIC from NADRA would also be communicated to ECP through NADRA and the registration officer would verify the votes.
“Before we took up the assignment at NADRA some three years ago, only 55 percent of the population was registered with the Authority. But now the percentage of the registered population stands at 91 percent,” said the Deputy Chairman. Giving the province-wise breakdown of the registration, he said they had registered 98 percent of the population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 82 percent of Federally Administered Tribal Areas, 92 percent of Punjab, 85 percent of Sindh, 73 percent of Balochistan, 99 percent of Islamabad and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. “In Sindh and Balochistan, the ratio of women’s registration has increased to 78 percent as compared to the previous ratio of 28 percent,” he added.