Elections not to be delayed by voters’ list errors: CJ

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said on Wednesday that the next general elections could not be affected or delayed due to errors in the voter lists,

The chief justice said that assistance of Army and the Frontier Corps (FC) could be sought in preparation of the voter lists.

A three member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heard the case.

The counsels of the petitioners told the Supreme Court that the Secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had assured the court on July 7, 2011 that the lists of the voters were being prepared and the voters would be registered according to their present residential addresses.

Adding that, the petitioners claimed that around 1-1.5 million people were affected by the errors in the residential addresses.

Director General of Election Commission Sher Afzal told the apex court that after court’s directions, authorised people were sent to visit people and verify their addresses.

He said that if someone was not present at their residence at the time of the visit, his/her address was taken from the permanent address column of his/her National identity card issued by the Nadra.

Chief Justice said that absence of a person from his residence does not allow the ECP to use his/her permanent address. He said that the vote of a person should be registered back to the constituency where it was listed before.

He also added that the vote should be in accordance with the 2008 election.

Counsel of Jamaat-i-Islami Rasheed A Rizvi  told the apex court that only in Karachi there are around 1.5 million people whose votes had been registered to their permanent addresses (as mentioned in their NIC).

He said that the provincial election commission was not cooperating with anyone.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry remarked that the task of completing the voting lists was almost complete; however, the issue of errors in the addresses should be corrected on an emergency basis.