Islamabad   -  Election Commission of Pakistan on Monday allowed overseas Pakistanis to exercise their right of casting vote in the forthcoming by-elections.

According to the ECP spokesperson, the decision was made in a meeting chaired by Secretary ECP Babar Yaqoob.

The meeting finalised the strategy to allow all overseas Pakistanis to cast their vote in by-elections in the light of orders of Supreme Court of Pakistan and special instructions have been issued to National Database and Registration Authority in this regard.

The meeting directed the NADRA to demonstrate the developed software before the ECP by the start of next month.

The meeting decided that from first of next month to 15th of next month all those overseas Pakistanis will be registered, who will have National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NOCOP) or Machine Readable Passport (MRP).

NADRA was also tasked to provide a demonstration of the i-voting software which was developed to facilitate overseas Pakistanis who wish to exercise their right to vote.

Only those Pakistanis residing abroad with a Machine Readable Passport (MRP) and a National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) will be eligible for registration, the ECP said, adding that the registration process must be completed by Sept 15.

The Foreign Office and NADRA will run awareness campaigns with the help of embassies, the ECP.

There are on average 29,000 Pakistani voters overseas registered in each National Assembly constituency.