The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has extended the deadline for overseas Pakistanis to register their votes online for upcoming by-polls.
The new deadline is till September 17. The by-polls in 37 constituencies are scheduled to held in the month of October.
Overseas Pakistan got the right to vote last month, after a Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, directed the ECP to use i-Voting system as a pilot project in the upcoming by-polls. The online system will enable overseas Pakistanis to cast their votes.
According to the ECP schedule for the by-polls, candidates can withdraw their nomination papers by September 15, while electoral symbols will be allotted to the contestants on the following days.
An estimate puts the number of overseas Pakistanis from the constituencies that will go to polls at around 525,000. These voters will be able to cast ballots online after they have registered for the purpose with the ECP, using the system developed by the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra). Importantly, the initiative has not received a very good response since only 3,700 voters had been registered till September 8.
Meanwhile, concerns have also been raised by political parties and independent experts on the reliability of the i-Voting system, given the ECP’s experience with the Results Transmission System during the general elections.
Published in Daily Times, September 15th 2018.
