NADRA and ECP are currently holding one another responsible for the allegedly widespread faults detected in the electoral rolls used in 2008 elections. Similar complaints were made in the past regarding the electoral rolls used in 2002 elections when there was stated to be a huge difference of as many as 7.6 million voters between the official figures of voters given by the NADRA and ECP. The two organisations subsequently had a full five years to work together to prepare error-free rolls for the 2008 elections. If this failed to happen, they themselves are to be held responsible.
There are a number of reasons for the inclusion of bogus votes. The ruling party can use the weaknesses in the registration system to get fake votes registered and then get them cast in favour of its candidates. A fraction of extra votes could be crucial where the opposite candidates have a relatively smaller edge. The way Musharraf manoeuvred the Local Bodies elections and the presidential referendum indicates that he could have used the unlimited power he exercised over the agencies and related government departments to get the task done and that the overwhelming majority of fake votes were in fact meant to be cast in favor of the kings party and its allies. Influential candidates, irrespective of their political affiliation, too can get fake votes registered in their constituencies and this too might have happened though to a much smaller extent. All this could not have been possible without the inefficiency shown by the ECP.
The ECP suffers from a number of deficiencies, shortage of funds being one of them. Presently, it is relying on an $8.5 million support promised by the USAID. It hopes to use the funds to acquire sophisticated information technology to prepare the countrys first error-free computerised electoral rolls. This however is a short-term measure. What is required is for the recently appointed parliamentary committee for setting up a new ECP to put its act together. The new ECP has to be thoroughly independent and resourceful, which requires, among other things, financial independence. Unless the commission has sufficient funds at its disposal to train and then employ the manpower needed to prepare the electoral rolls, error free electoral rolls would remain a mirage. Meanwhile, the issue should not be used to challenge the authenticity of the 2008 elections or discredit the existing governments at the centre and the provinces. There is enough to indicate that an exercise of the sort is in the offing.
