The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said on Friday that more than 12 million women voters were not registered in the country. ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad, addressing the electoral reforms conference, wondered how an election could become free and fair when such a large number of women would be out of the electoral process.
“It is the responsibility of political parties to ensure registration of women as voters,” the ECP secretary said. He lamented lack of cooperation from the political parties over the issue and requested the parties to extend cooperation with the election commission.
Around 4.3 million women voters were registered before the general election of 2018, he said.
He expressed apprehension that the number of unregistered women voters in the country could further increase.
The ECP was working in collaboration with the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) for registration of the women voters, he said.
Yaqoob suggested for considering the proposal of representation with the ratio of population.