Zardari calls to enlist women voters missed in electoral rolls

Author: inp

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has expressed grave concern over women voters missed in the electoral rolls and called upon the government and all relevant state institutions to address the issue at the earliest for the credibility of the 2018 polls.

Speaking at a briefing at the Zardari House on Friday, the former president of Pakistan said that the voters’ registration issue was important for empowering women by enabling them to participate in the decision-making processes.

A four-member Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) team comprising Shahid Fayyaz, Mudassir Rizvi, Yasir Javed and Javed Minwa gave the briefing.

The meeting was informed that the Election Commission had also stated recently that over 13 million women were not in the voters’ lists and hence not eligible to vote in the upcoming general election.

Zardari said that the Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah would raise the election and delimitation-related issues at the meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) on Monday.

He also sought the number of above 18 years old in the country – both males and females – to make a fair assessment as to how many citizens were still not registered as voters. “The issue of under-registration must also be addressed speedily,” he said. He also called upon the party’s office-bearers to keep abreast on the progress made in this regard,

PPP leaders, including Nayyer Hussain Bokhari, Farhatullah Babar, Chaudhry Manzoor and Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, were also attended the briefing.

Published in Daily Times, November 11^th2017.