Campaign underway in 79 districts to ensure efficient registration of women voters

A Female National Identity Card and Voter Registration Campaign is in progress in 79 districts of the country to bridge gap between male and female voters.
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), as part of its measures to ensure efficient registration of women voters, has launched this initiative last month.
The initiative, targeting 8,80,000 women, will mobilize and facilitate them to centres of National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) for acquisition of Computerized National Identity Card (CNlC).
Sources at Parliamentary Affairs Division on Friday said the number of women registered as voters is less than men voters.
All the citizens having the CNICs are registered as voters from time to time. Therefore, the gap between men and women voters is due to the gap in Civil Registration. The voter registration is directly linked with issuance of CNICs.
The sources said as gap of men and women registration improves in Civil Registration, the same shall be reflected in voter registration.
The sources said ECP had declared elections of a provincial constituency PK-95 Lower Dir (KP) null and void on ground that no women voters came out to vole in said constituency.
The decision was set aside by the KP High Court and ECP was asked to notify the Returned candidate. ECP, however, challenged the decision of KP High Court in Supreme Court and the matter is still pending.
Furthermore, this stance of ECP has also been endorsed in Election Act 2017 by inclusion of law on the issue. Highlighting the other initiatives, the sources said ECP has introduced a column in Form-XlV i.e. Statement of the Court (which is prepared by the Presiding Officer at close of the poll) requiring information on the number of women voters who cast their votes at each polling station, enabling ECP to ascertain the number of women who exercise their right of vote across the country.
The ECP has also included a module with name of “Gender and Elections” in capacity building trainings of ECP Officers so that a gender sensitized environment is created.
Moreover, the gender affairs wing of ECP has created a “Gender and Disability Electoral Working Group (CDEW)” with an aim of mainstreaming women and other marginalize group in to the political process.
This working group will enlist support of all stakeholders and other organizations working in the field.
In this regard meetings at all four provincial headquarters with all stakeholders have already been conducted.
The sources said ECP has also established District Voter Education Committees at District level which are headed by District Election Commissioner concerned and consist of members from both the government and civil society organizations of the area.
The DVECs organize a number of mobilization activities for registration of women.

Source: APP