The lack of interest shown by the Pakistani diaspora living abroad in i-voting has dampened the spirits of the officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) as only three expatriates registered themselves for the upcoming PP-168 by-election in Lahore.
The three individuals, who registered their votes online before the expiry of the deadline, were among the 4,677 voters belonging to the mentioned constituency residing in more than 10 different countries. The registration process lasted for 15 days – from 12th November 2018 to 27th November 2018. This was the second time i-voting took place.
Earlier in September 2018, only 7,419 Pakistanis living abroad had registered themselves with the ECP to vote in the by-elections for 37 constituencies of national and provincial assemblies held on October 14.
The i-Voting system first determined the eligibility of the voter and asked to enter:-
– 13-digit Unique National Identity Card Number printed on NICOP Card
– The Issuance Date of the NICOP Card
– Machine Readable Passport Number
– And the Tracking ID Number printed on Machine Readable Passport
Out of 650,000 overseas Pakistani voters in 2018, only 6500 Pakistanis cast their votes – whereas the rest of the voters didn’t even vote. More importantly, why they should get the online voting right whereas people residing in Pakistan should not.
