Voters verification begins under army watch

Though there is no serious threat to the Election Commission staff that begins verifying voters’ list in Karachi from today, the Pakistan Army will intervene whenever an untoward incident takes places during the verification process that will last until February 1.
Interestingly, there was a call by various political and religious parties that soldiers of the Pakistan Army do the verification themselves to make the already prepared lists transparent.
All parties except the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has supported the army’s involvement in the verification process, however, the Election Commission took a U-turn and said the army would only ensure security of the staff when need be.
Briefing reporters at the Election Commission of Pakistan Sindh office on Wednesday, Sindh Election Commissioner Mehboob Anwar said all politico-religious parties were supporting the Election Commission, and hoped the MQM would also support and cooperate in the verification process.
“The current final voters lists were published on July 31, 2012, however, the Supreme Court on December 5, 2012 ordered to verify the voters’ lists and the verification process will start from January 10, 2013. There are 6.926 million votes registered in the city. And 13,622 blocks,” he added.
In all, there will be five registration officers, 197 assistant registration officers, 3,216 supervisors and some 11,300 voters verification staff, he said, adding that the offices of assistant registration officers would also work as display centres for the voters to check their names and get them corrected.
The election commissioner said all stationary had been provided to the concerned staff that included form A, form 2, form B and register and the verification staff would check the CNIC of the head of the house.
Besides, the correction, if any, would also be done during the verification process, he added.
Anwar said the verification staff would work throughout the period of verification i.e. January 10 to February 1 without any holiday.
Moreover, sources in the Election Commission told Pakistan Today that more than 13,000 staff would perform the verification duties. There are more than 6.926 million votes in the city that include 0.726 million votes registered in Malir district, 1.610 million in district central, 2.3 million in district east, 1.67 million in south and 1.416 million in west.