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Friday March 29, 2024

Attempts to disenfranchise women to be countered: official

By Bureau report
July 16, 2018

PESHAWAR: Any attempt to disfranchise women in the upcoming general elections will be dealt with accordingly, said an official of the Provincial Election Commission.

“It has been observed that an environment is created where the women face problems with voting. Such issues are very much in our notice. Let me tell you with surety that not only the security agencies but also the polling staff have been trained in dealing with these impediments. We have overcome such issues which had surfaced in the last general elections,” said Khushal Zada, Deputy Director of the Provincial Election Commission.

He was addressing as keynote speaker at the monthly session of Shoora-e-Hamdard, arranged by the Hamdard Foundation at the Peshawar Services Club.

The title of the session was, “Next elections, code of conduct and voters responsibilities”.

A noted cultural activist and Shoora-e-Hamdard Speaker Dr Salahuddin, presided over the event.

The Provincial Election Commission official said the election in any country determined the future of a nation and signified the representation of the public. All the departments of a country remained active in the entire electoral process, he added.

He said in Pakistan, not only the army, judiciary, police, education department employees, but people from other sections of the society work in a network before, during and after the elections.

Khushal Zada said the commission had been tasked with performing this responsibility as an institution. “We are trying our level best to shoulder these responsibilities round-the-clock as enshrined in the constitution,” he went on to say.

The speaker said the commission was, on the one hand, training the employees of various institutions in the electoral process and making an effort to carry out the directives of the judiciary, on the other.

The official said we should keep in mind that we will have to come out of our homes on July 25 at all costs to fulfill this national responsibility of casting the ballot.

He said the electorates could file verbal or written complaints with the polling staff if they felt any difficulty in casting vote for the candidates of their choice or they have any objection or reservation over the electoral process.

The official said all voters in the country have been conveyed the message that they could use the cell phones to confirm own votes and the relevant polling stations. He said the computerized national identity card number was the vote number as well.

Khushal Zada used the opportunity to talk about the hurdles which were present at the public level that stopped the voters from exercising their right to vote. He said women were harassed in some areas and polling prohibited as well.

Pointing out to some new steps taken by the election commission, the official said that a unique electronic method would be used to minimize the chances of rigging. “This has ended the possibility of any change in the counting in the votes,” he believed.

The speech was followed by a question-answer session. The participants put up questions and made comments. The questions reflected the thoughts boggling the minds of the common people. Some even led to a debate.