ISLAMABAD (MEDIA)
Poor public response to the nationwide three-week display of preliminary electoral rolls (PERs) has disappointed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), as only 6 million availed the voter SMS facility while around 6 million visited the display centres to check the related information.
PERs consisting of over 83 million voters were put on display at as many as 55,000 display centres, mostly outside schools and colleges for public viewing, enabling persons to help the ECP ensure finalisation of accurate final electoral rolls (FERs).
The Election Commission, through a concerted media campaign, tried to motivate people to visit the display centres or SMS their CNIC number to ‘8300’ and get in return information on his or her electoral address, electoral area name, bloc code, tehsil/district and serial number. The charges are Rs02 per SMS. The facility will continue till the announcement of election schedule.
In case of a discrepancy regarding the related information, form 04 is needed to be filled in and handed over to the concerned local Election Commission Office for correction.
However, notwithstanding the fact there are over 110 million registered SIM users, just 6 million opted for this facility. Electoral experts insist that public involvement is a key to verification and ensuring error-free FERS.
“We are disappointed with the public response recorded so far,” a senior ECP official maintained.