The Supreme Court has ordered Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to carry out door-to-door verification process of electoral rolls in Karachi with the assistance of army and Frontier Constabulary (FC).
A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry delivered the verdict and announced by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed on Wednesday.
The court ordered that Karachi’s electoral lists should be verified with assistance from the army and the Frontier Corps.
The bench said voter lists required a through review and directed that the lists should be compiled and verified with assistance from the army.
The order said that the army and Rangers could be used in this verification campaign as their involvement would help the authorities in resolving the law and order issue in the commercial hub of the country.
Voters should not be transferred from one area to another without the voters’ consent, said the order.
The ruling further stated that it was up to the discretion of every citizen as to where he wants to cast his vote.
No time frame has been given for the verification process, however, as per the law, the ECP is responsible for verifying votes prior to the general elections.
The case was taken up by the apex court when Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) filed applications, claiming that around 300,000 votes of people in Karachi were registered outside the city.
The court had earlier reserved its verdict regarding non-verification of sizable number of votes in Karachi and shifting of votes to other towns and cities on the basis of permanent addresses mentioned on the CNICs of the city residents.