The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered Election Commission of Pakistan to conduct a door-to-door verification of electoral rolls in Karachi with assistance of army and Frontier Constabulary.
A three-member bench of the apex court delivered the verdict, which was reserved on Thursday, after hearing representatives of political parties in a case regarding irregularities in electoral lists.
The bench comprised Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed. It heard petitions filed by Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan and Jamaat-e-Islami.
The parties complained that up to 3 million votes in Karachi had been registered in their native towns of Swat, Mingora, Mansehra and Attock, despite their residence in the city for 10 to 15 years.
In its verdict, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry ordered ECP to seek help from the armed forces for verification of voters’ lists in Karachi. “The ECP should ensure that no one’s vote in registered against his/her will.”
The court has directed ECP to find out how many votes have been registered on the same addresses and how many people had applied for shifting their votes outside Karachi; how many of them were de-listed or transferred back to their native towns.
In earlier hearings, counsel for Jamat-e-Islami, Rasheed A Rizvi told the court about a 120-yard house in Karachi where 653 votes had been registered.
Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) counsel, Senator Farooogh Nasim proposed that the court should refer the matter to Election Commission which should make a decision after consultation with all stakeholders.
Meanwhile, Provincial Election Commissioner Sono Khan Baloch said the decision of verification of lists would be taken once copy of the verdict is received.
ECP ordered to verify Khi electoral rolls with the help of army, FC
