Nadra counters PTI claims of bogus votes

ISLAMABAD: Chairman National Database & Registration Authority (Nadra) Osman Yousuf Mubeen’s statement in the judicial commission that 97% of unverified votes in 39 disputed constituencies are valid has surprised Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) leadership but Nadra sources claim that Mubeen’s statement was based on statistical analysis of election documents.
Mubeen, a graduate of prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), articulately presented Nadra’s case in the commission and asserted that unverified votes are not invalid. Despite repeated prodding by seasoned PTI lawyer Abdul Hafiz Pirzada, Nadra chairman refused to say that unverified votes were invalid or bogus.
Talking to the newsmen after the conclusion of commission’s proceedings, PTI chairman Imran Khan expressed surprise over Nadra chairman’s claim. but a senior Nadra told The News Mubeen’s statement was based on analysis of voter lists in some constituencies where unverified votes were re-checked against the computerised national identity cards (CNIC) of the voters.
He said in 39 disputed constituencies, Nadra was able to verify more than 36% votes while for other 63% votes, thump impressions were not of sufficient quality to be read by automated machines.
“In 100 per cent cases, where votes could be not verified through automated machines owing to poor quality of thumb impressions on voters lists, it was confirmed that the same were cast by voters having valid CNICs and they all were also registered within the same constituencies,” said the official.
“In cases where votes could be read by automated machines, more than 97% votes were properly authenticated, so it is believed that the same ratio would prevail in the cases where thump impressions could not be read by automated machines,” he said.
When asked why the thumb impressions are not checked manually Nadra official gave two main reasons; “Firstly, we don’t have finger print experts at Nadra. Secondly, only a few thumb impressions could be matched manually in a day while the automated machine can match thousands of thumb impressions within an hour.” He said it will take around 20 years to check all the unverified votes of 39 constituencies manually.
PTI had also claimed that some of the voter lists in disputed constituencies contain invalid CNIC numbers and some voters were from outside the constituency. Nadra has recently checked a sample of 3647 cases of invalid CNICs from NA-122 where Imran Khan lost to National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq. The authority’s analysis revealed that in 88% cases, the invalid CNICs were a result of writing error of a single digit while in 12% cases no conclusion could be reached.