‘Efforts on to reduce gender gap in electoral list’

PESHAWAR: Provincial Election Commissioner Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is making efforts for reducing gender gap on electoral rolls in the province particularly in merged districts.

This was stated by the provincial Joint Election Commissioner Muhammad Javed Khan while addressing a training workshop on “Women NIC and Voter Registration” here on Wednesday.

The workshop was organised by the Election Commission in collaboration with International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).

The workshop was attended by Assistant Director Gender Affairs Syed Aun Naqvi, Assistant Director Election Commission Zahid-ur-Rehman, District Election Commissioner Khyber, Malik Sohail District Election Commissioner Bajaur, Ajmal Hafeez District Election Commissioner Mohmand, Falak Naz and District Election Commissioner Kurram Muhammad Rauf, District Election Commissioner Kohat Asif Khattak, NADRA and IFES officials andProvincial Joint Election Commissioner.

Muhammad Javed Khan said that the gender gap between women and male voters was more than 10% in the 2017 voter lists, adding that the women without NIC was a major reason.

He said that Election Commission in collaboration with NADRA and partner organizations has started a mobile registration campaign in 2017 for women NIC registration at their doorsteps.

A joint meeting of the representative organization and NADRA under the supervision of the District Election Commissioner has decided the strategy for mobile registration drive in specific blocks and so far three phases have been completed.

He said that the fourth phase would be formally launched in district Khyber, Bajaur, Mohmand, Orakzai and Kurram from Thursday.

He urged the Election Commission and NADRA officials to work with local elders and civil society to make the campaign a success by overcoming the difficulties in registering NIC and votes of women.

Earlier, Senior Public Relations Officer Sohail Ahmed and Assistant Director Gender Affairs Syed Aon Naqvi gave a detailed briefing to the participants on the registration campaign.