President Calls For More Strengthening Of ECP To Avoid Caretaker Govts

ISLAMABAD, Dec 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Dec, 2018 ) :President Dr Arif Alivi Friday said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should be strengthened to such an extent so that there was no need of setting up a caretaker government for conducting general election.

He said Pakistan was among the countries where interim governments were set up and there would be no need fro the same if the same if the top election body was made more strengthened.

Speaking at a function arranged in connection with the 'Voters Registration Day' (December 7) here at the Awan-e-Sadr, he said conducting of free and fair polls was constitutional responsibility of the ECP. Free and transparent elections with full participation of voters would strengthen democracy, he added.

The president said strengthening of the ECP and other state institutions would put Pakistan on the road to progress and prosperity.

He said in order to highlight the importance of vote and to encourage people to register themselves for voting, the ECP was observing December 7 as voters' registration day. Marking of the day would encourage more young voters to take part in the political process, he added.

Congratulating the Election Commission for conducting the general election 2018 in a free, fair and transparent manner and delimitation process, he urged the top election body to concentrate on making arrangements for electronic voting for the 2023 election.

Such kinds of machines were very much important for those countries where there was possibility of unfair voting, he said, adding that it would end arising of conflicts on the election day.

The president said the parliament, the government and the Election Commission of Pakistan should come forward and play their role to end conflicts in that regard.

"There is no democracy without free, fair and transparent elections and the conflicts arising out after allegations of rigging in polls damaged the country," he added.

The president said findings of the parliamentary committee to probe alleged rigging in 2018 elections would also help the ECP to improve its system for future polls. � He said improvement had been made in electoral rolls. He, however, stressed for making the voter registration process more easy.

Chief Election Commissioner Justice (Retd) Sardar Muhammad Raza speaking on the occasion said the ECP was committed to ensure that elections were conducted in accordance to the law and in a manner which allowed every eligible Pakistani to cast their vote.

He said following the enactment of Elections Act 2017, the ECP immediately conducted the delimitation exercise in a short span of time to ensure conducting of the general election 2018 in time.

The CEC said the Commission had introduced a number of initiatives to further develop and strengthen the electoral process and for voters' facilitation.

He said the ECP had launched a comprehensive training programme and trained over 850,000 officials across the country to carry out their duties in the 2018 polls. Election management courses were also arranged for it staff, he added.

He said for the first time, the ECP introduced ballot papers with security features such as watermarks to prevent any fraudulent attempts to duplicate ballots.

Earlier, ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad in his welcome address said registration and polling of vote was must for a stable democracy.