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Friday March 29, 2024

99pc votes are valid: Nadra chief

NA-122 polls

By Numan Wahab
June 14, 2015
LAHORE: National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) Chairman Usman Yusuf informed the Election Tribunal that 99 percent votes polled in NA-122 were valid after which the tribunal has reserved its verdict over supplementary forensic report submitted by the Nadra.
Nadra chairman also informed the tribunal that while, recording his statement before the Judicial Commission, he had stated that according to statistical expectations, 97 percent votes polled in May 2013 elections were valid. The chairman was being cross examined Saturday by the counsel of both parties regarding election petition filed by PTI chairman against alleged rigging in NA-122. Nadra chairman also said Nadra has prepared supplementary report after the objections raised by the lawyers of both political parties. He claimed that Nadra prepared the report with the consultations of both parties’ lawyers.
However, counsel of PTI Aness Hashmi requested the tribunal that supplementary report submitted by Nadra should not be made part of the record as Nadra had already submitted its report. He said Nadra had not any mandate to submit a supplementary report. He alleged that the chairman has maneuvered the facts in supplementary report, requesting the court to start criminal proceedings against him.
Previously, Nadra had submitted a supplementary forensic report of the constituency NA-122 stating that 5898 (96.7 per cent) voters out 6123 could be declared or considered valid voters which were earlier declared invalid voters by Nadra on the pretext that CNICs of those voters were never issued by the Nadra. After this report, in the view of Nadra, only 204 votes could be declared as invalid in the constituency NA-122.
The News had learnt that counsel of both parties and Chairman NADRA had a closed door meeting with the Election Tribunal Judge Kazim Ali Malik. In that meeting counsel of Ayaz Sadiq had requested the NADRA chairman to re-examine 6123 votes and submit Nadra’s view in this regard.
The report stated that Nadra examined sample of counterfoils having invalid identity card numbers and observed that a large number of these were minor mistakes in writing down the number of CNICs and these trivial mistakes had rendered an otherwise valid CNIC number into an invalid one.
Interestingly, on May 9, Nadra had submitted its full audit report of NA-122 before the tribunal revealing that only 73,478 out of total 184,151 cast votes in constituency NA-122 could be verified.