MQM-P asks ECP to expand drive for verification of voters

Hailing the Election Commission of Pakistan’s ongoing door-to-door campaign for the verification of electoral rolls, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan leaders on Tuesday said the campaign was initiated in good faith but it had failed to gain the desired results.

Addressing a press conference at the party’s office, MQM-P senior deputy convener Kunwar Naveed Jamil said the campaign was ended in Karachi, Hyderabad and other major urban centres of the province on Monday, but teams had not reached the houses of the most of the people yet.

“There are 250 to 300 families in one block, but the staff have only given 10 to 15 form-13, whereas every family should have a separate form,” he said. Also, a large number of the people in Karachi lived in rented houses and they had been facing several difficulties in changing the address in Nadra, the MQM-P leader said. “Should a poor person pay a change of address fee or bear the family expenses?” he asked.

He said that in the two letters written to the ECP, the MQM-P had clarified issues of residents of Karachi and urban centres of Sindh and informed the body that the phase of registration, registration, and correction should be extended by one month.

Jamil also said that the party had asked ECP to increase the number of trained staff because the electoral body had initiated the campaign in good faith. “We were also informed that some staff have been running the registration campaign on the older voter lists.”

MQM team meets Ismail

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail met a four-member delegation of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan at the Governor House on Tuesday.

A handout issued by the Governor House said the delegation comprised Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Javed Hanif, Muhammad Hussain and Sadiq Iftikhar. Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Shaikh and Aziz Afridi also attended the meeting.

The meeting took into consideration the newly-passed Sindh Local Government Bill 2021, development projects being built by the federal government in urban areas of Sindh, steps being taken by the government for the progress and development of the province and other issues.