Electoral Rolls and Role of Respective Stakeholders

Voting is an act of choice among a set of alternatives given to an individual and exercised with free will. It is the essence of modern democracy. The history of voting dates back to ancient Greek society discovered on a piece of pottery on which certain votes, about banishment of those seen dangerous to the peace and state were inscribed. Voting is more than the voicing of an individual’s opinion ‘the problem arises in counting of votes, the criteria as to who should be given the right to exercise vote, and in deciding for whom, or for what alternatives, the votes have been cast.

The average modern standard age of voting in the 20th century is 18 years but, this was not the case until the middle of 20th century. Some qualifications were attached to become a voter like wealth or social status all were not given the right of suffrage particularly the women. In the beginning the secret ballot was not known to the people and till today in trade union elections the ballot is not necessarily secret. However, secret ballot is the only way to measure the impartial opinion of the masses.

In subcontinent the colonial rulers granted the voting right to the people to elect their representatives for local and provincial governments. The elections were used to be held on the lines of western democracies by secret ballot. The same pattern of voting remained in practice after the independence of Pakistan and India, and till now the candidates are elected by the people on the basis of their party nomination and they put party label during election campaign to convince the voters. As far as counting of votes are concerned, political parties particularly in developing countries have been alleging rigging in elections and even refused to accept results on losing the election and resorted to protests ultimately leading to further political instability. Conducting of free, fair and transparent elections by an independent election commission all the times have been on the agenda of all political parties in Pakistan but efforts in this regard could not be witnessed until recently when chief election commissioner was appointed by consensus of all political parties which is a very welcoming omen for strengthening of democracy and giving birth to political traditions which are very vital for nurturing  of democracy in a country like Pakistan.

Another important aspect of holding transparent and impartial general election is the availability of correct and updated electoral rolls containing the names of all citizens who have attained the age of 18 years at the time of finalisation of electoral rolls. In general elections of 2008 availability of correct and updated electoral rolls have been questioned by many political parties. But this time before general elections 2013 the Election Commission of Pakistan has publicised in print media urging the masses to check their names on the 2012 final electoral rolls and to make corrections if there are errors in the data.

 Here begins the responsibility of all political parties to create awareness among the people that how important is registration of their votes for the upcoming general elections and at the same time help the people get them registered at the earliest so that they could exercise the right of vote. Another responsibility rests on the shoulder of the all political parties is to convince the voters to cast their vote as most of voters do not come out of their houses on the elections day and rather enjoy watching elections on television. In the last general election the turnout was 44 percent, it means a significant majority of registered voters did not exercise their right of vote and in fact, a minority had chosen the public representatives for majority which is against the spirit of democracy. If political parties want to bring change in the social and political sphere they should impress upon the people how important is to use the right of vote. And if they succeed in bringing the people out of their homes on the elections day the result will be different altogether and only those candidates will be probably elected who enjoy the majority vote.

Registration of votes of every individual of 18 years of age is as important as to prevent false registration and utmost care should be taken by the relevant authorities in completing the process so that any attempt to rig the election is nullified. At the time of casting vote the production of original CNIC is mandatory for every voter therefore NADRA authorities are required to speed up the issuance of cards to already registered voters who have applied for renewal of or duplicate card. Although there is difference in the claims of NADRA and Election Commission regarding the issuance of CNIC and number of registered voters, however, in the absence of correct official estimates of population it is difficult to believe the figure. But it is to be remembered that everyday NADRA issues CNICs and ECP must keep pace in enfranchising the citizens until the announcement of the election schedule.