The provincial election commission Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has kicked off a special drive to register votes of females and deprived segments of the society in the merged districts, said provincial election commissioner (PEC) Javed Khan here on Thursday.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the campaign here at a local hotel, he said that drive has been launched in cooperation with Election Commission (EC), International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and National Database Registration Authority (Nadra), adding that the role of education department, local government, social welfare and health was also imperative in the regard.
He said the registration of female voters and other deprived segments of the society was a big step and EC has set a target of registering 25,000 female voters.
He urged political parties, civil society, and medial to play their imperative role in creating awareness and making the campaign successful, adding that EC committed to ensure participation of all segments of the society in the electoral process. All the offices of EC and polling stations would be made accessible for the persons with disabilities so that they could also cast their vote in the elections, he informed.
Appreciating the role of Nadra, civil society and officials of EC, Javed said that due to their effective role the gap between registered male and female voters shrunk to 10 percent and efforts would be made to bridge this gap further.
The PEC said the final electoral lists would be published in August while preparations are in full swing to hold the general elections on time.
Speaking on the occasion Provincial Ombudsperson Rakhshanda Naz said that the ombudsman was actively working to protect women from any kind of harassment at work places, adding that all the public departments including EC and Nadra were extending cooperation with the ombudsman.
Assistant Director Nadra Zahid ur Rehman assured full support to the provincial EC in registration of the female voters.
Public Relation Officer (PRO) PEC Sohail Ahmed said that the election commission in cooperation with Nadra and partnership organizations started a mobile registration drive in 2017 to provide CNIC to females at their door-step. Director IFES Shabbir Ahmed Kundi said the foundation in collaboration with EC was working on various projects.
