Voters Training Guide

Voters Training program

Current situation demands to understand the necessity to ponder the opinion of voters on the point of re-establishment of democracy. For achieving this goal several attempts have been made which includes stating the awareness to vote, providing training & technical knowledge and the cooperation with voters, elected representatives, political parties and the media.

First of all, current circumstances of our country need a responsive leader to hold our country and help the country to move in the pace of melioration. We know that we’re falling behind because our leaders didn't performed their role at all and that is the reason why we’re so behind when all of the countries are living their life with full necessities we’re the one who are stuck in the lines of CNG and Petrol, we are trapped in the load shedding of electricity and Gas. We cannot get out of this until we fully understand our duties and responsibilities. For this a person should be fully aware of the importance and value of his or her vote and that is the reason why voters training programs have been initiated in Pakistan.

For having democracy it requires up to date voters list and full involvement of voters in election procedure plus to cast their vote without any pressure, threats and bullying. Thus voters shall be educated in view of that.

Voters education instigate from recruitment of enlisting their names in the voting list so to cast votes in polling station.

As to install a responsible government voters are required to participate in majority involving every member of their family, friends and neighbors who is not less than 18 years to help bringing the change in the society.

As to make democratic role moving forward to work in an efficient way, responsibilities of elected members and the performance of lawmaking assembly and voters right shall be revealed.

For the creation of democratic environment, congregation between the voters and the political candidates of the national, provincial and local bodies’ government shall be set to make them get to know each other, so they can see each other traits.

For all of this advertisement shall be published in order to familiarize public with this concept and making them aware through that. For this the publications shall be made in Urdu, English and other regional languages that are commonly spoken at that region. Advertisements shall be made also on electronic and print media so that every Pakistani gets aware of this theory. Surveys shall be held in all of the countries especially in urban areas to familiarize them and make them responsible as they cover greater part of our society.

Election is a vital part of the democratic society and that demands pure elections which are without any partiality and rigging. The result of the elections depends upon the polling staff, the political parties’ workers and the voters to know the rules and regulations of the election process.

To establish pure voting system in Pakistan we need to train the polling staff, party workers and voters. The training program includes the enlistment of voters, sustaining and modernizing electoral list, before election irregularities, duties of polling staff, the responsibilities of judiciary, the job of law enforcing organization, the privileges of voters and polling staff, the selection of a proficient candidate , the responsibilities of the political workers, the counting of vote, tabularization of the results and its declaration.

A guide shall be prepared for polling staff for their training that is very important. The training programs of voters shall be telecasted on electronic and print media. The procedure of grounding and allotment of training material shall be computerized through a network countrywide.

For invigilation, proper monitoring through electronic devices shall be done, so to check any rigging in elections. The voters should be guided through the process and issues related to the elections through electronic and print media.

Electoral system in Pakistan

Election Commission of Pakistan

In this blog we’ll try to discuss the complete Electoral system body in Pakistan, from assembly’s dissolution to Local government in Pakistan. Starting from what is stated according to the constitution of Pakistan ad the laws about elections we’ll find Article 222-226 which states about the structure according to which elections can be held in Pakistan. The Articles states that:

No person can be a member of both houses i.e. National and Senate or a House and Provincial assembly.

General election to the assembly should be held within the epoch of ninety days after the dissolution that assembly i.e. National assembly or Provincial assembly. The results to that election should be affirmed within 14 days after the ending of polls.

 The chapter 2: Electoral laws and conduct of Elections, Article 222-226 in the Constitution of Pakistan states that:

“A general election to the National Assembly or a Provincial Assembly shall be held within a period of sixty days immediately following the day on which the day on which the term of the Assembly is due to expire, unless the Assembly has been sooner dissolved, and the results of the election shall be declared not later than fourteen days before that day.”

Election Commission of Pakistan:

Election commission of Pakistan (ECP) that was established in 1956, the constitution of Pakistan held responsible ECP for administration of general elections in Pakistan.

Under the chapter 1 Part 8: Chief Election commission, Article 218-219, The Constitution of Pakistan states that

“For the purpose of each national general election to the State Parliament (National Assembly) and to a Provincial legislature (Sindh, Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan) an Election Commission shall be constituted in accordance with the Article 239G. It shall be the duty of the Election Commission constituted in relation to an election to organize and conduct the election and to make such arrangements as are necessary to ensure that the election is conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with law, and that corrupt practices are guarded against.”

The EC is formed with comprising the Chief Election Commissioner as the Chairman who can be a judge or retired judge of the Supreme Court and 4 members from each province who are the judges of the four High courts over there which are chosen by the President by constitution.

Level of elections in Pakistan:

In Parliamentary election there are Assemblies, Senate, Presidential and Local Government elections. Let’s look over them one by one.

Assemblies Elections:

In Parliamentary system of Pakistan through secret ballot papers the executive and legislature are elected directly through public voting in constituencies. The candidate who earned the highest vote in polling then becomes a member of National or Provincial assembly. The seats in the National assembly are allocated to each province. The seats reserved for women and to the minorities are allocated according to the law.

National Assembly consisting of 342 seats is generally elected for 5 years terms. However if it is dissolved the elections must be held within 90 days stated in the constitution of Pakistan.

Senate elections:

It is compromised with 100 seats to which 14 are reserved for each Provincial assembly, 8 for FATA by the members of National assembly from the respective areas, 2 members containing 1 woman and technocrat from by the Federal capital members of National assembly and 4 of both women and technocrats from each Provincial assembly. The tenure of the members is of 6 years.

Presidential Elections:

It is the duty of ECP to demeanor presidential elections in-order to elect a President of the state who must not be less than 45 years, whom can be a woman or man but should be a Muslims. The tenure of the president if of 5 years and the senate, national and provincial assembly in a special session elects president under the supervision of ECP.

Local government elections:

In order of good governance the administrative and financial authorities are distributed to be answerable to local government. The elections are held after 4 years and it is the duty of ECP to conduct these elections.

For more information visit www.pakvoter.org

Systematic Voting

This blog is for the detail discussion that how the registration system of voting works here in Pakistan. Following are the steps through which the registration system go through. The steps are provided in sequence for the ease of readers.

•       For the National And Provincial assemblies demeanor, the election commission of Pakistan assign a District returning officer for each district and a returning officer for each electorate who are drained from amid the officers of the judiciary, the federal or provincial government and local authorities. Returning officers are mostly Additional district and session judges.
•        The list of where elections are polled are prepared by returning officers with the consent of district returning officer. No polling station can be located on the grounds of a candidate.
•    The list of supervising officers, assistant presiding officers and polling staff is organized by the returning officer to be sent to the district returning officer for the consent. The list is sent at least 15 days before the polls. It is the duty of Presiding officer to conduct the polls at the polling station plus the maintenance of law & order is also the primary duty of presiding officer. The Presiding officer is supported by the Assistant Presiding officers and polling officers.
•  By the announcement of Election Commission the dates of Election schedule,  nomination papers are tempted from the willing candidates.
•  Returning officer scrutinize nomination papers where they are accepted or rejected.
•   Plead against acceptance or rejection of nomination papers are filed with the appellate panel. Where they decide that whether such plead summarily within such time to may be informed by the commission and are order approved thereon shall be conclude.
• The wrap up list of the disputed nominee is to be prepared and will be published In the approved behavior by the Returning officer after inclusion of the verdict on appeals and after abandonment of application by the applicant if any.
• The symbols for Election are also allocated to the nominee by the Returning officer according to the party association or as an individual candidate, from the list of symbols which are permitted by Election commission.
•   The names of the participating candidates are then arranged in Urdu alphabetical sequence granting each symbol against his name which was associated with him or her.
• The dedicated Voter’s list is provided to each Returning officer by the ECP, which is then distributed along with the Presiding officers in accordance with the polling scheme and assignment of voters to each polling booth.
• Votes can be cast only at the dedicated polling booth which are provided in an electoral rolls against their names.
• As the election for both assemblies i.e. National assembly and provincial held on the same day, thus the voter is granted with two ballet papers for each assembly constituency.
• When a voter comes to cast his or her vote in polling station, the presiding officer upon identifying him or her through the identity card issued him or her the ballot paper.
• Without delaying the polling is held in polling station for 9 hours consecutively.
• After 9 hours the votes are counted right away at the polling station by the presiding officer in the presence of nominee’s, their election and polling agents.
• Presiding officer prepares a statement  after counting the ballot papers by specifying the number of votes that is counted in the favor of respected candidate and sent it to the returning officer along with the unused election material i.e. spoilt ballet papers, unused ballet papers etc etc .
• The presiding officer declare the result at the polling booth, also copying the result at the outside of polling booth.
• After having the acknowledgment of statement of counts, the returning officer compiles the prelude unofficial result and associate the result to the Election commission through fax or with the help of other print or electronic media.
• After the declaration of unofficial result, the returning officer dole out a notice to all the participating nominee’s and their agents regarding the day, time and place that is fixed for the consolidation of the result. In the presence of the nominee’s and their agents the returning officer merge up the results of the counting endowed by the presiding officer in the agreed approach including postal ballot that is received by him before the day of polling.
• Instantly after organizing the merged up statements from the returning officer transfer a copy to the ECP in the approved form which is then published by the names of returned candidates in the official gazette.

For more details have a look on Pakvoter

Voter Qualification

For voter qualification it is to be considered to know that he/she must be a Pakistani citizen whose age should not be less than 18 years on 1^st of Jan of the year as the rolls are prepared and revised that day is consider the inhabitant of an electoral region. He/she can get themselves registered as a voter in that particular electoral region. The voters can only vote in a particular area in which they are registered.

Qualification for the membership of the parliament it is necessary to be a Pakistani citizen and to be listed in any electoral roll beneath the Electoral Rolls Act 1974. Lest of National Assembly or Provincial Assembly the age of the member should be 25 or more and the required age for senate is 30 or more is of good moral fiber and doesn't have infringed any Islamic embargo, has ample amount of information about Islamic laws and teachings and should perform the necessitate duties in Islam, moreover restraining him or herself from committing major sins. He or she should be shrewd, honorable, honest, non-extravagant, truthful and responsible. He /she must not be a crook for any crime containing moral turpitude or haven’t given any sham substantiation. He/she must be a graduate and is not against the ideology of Pakistan, can took part in election and become a member of the parliament or a provincial assembly.

Which to vote?

As election nearby, election campaign starts to began in which our political parties leader give the best of their energetic and vigorous speech. Public might fall in their sugar coating that what they will do if they will rule, but soon after their rule their all promises seems to fail and their tone changes  completely.

A common strategy to public is to either not to vote or voting the candidate without knowing that whether he has done something for them or not. In election times the leaders may distribute food or other goodies but don’t look at that. Seek  for what they have done before elections.try to find out their work in your area if the political candidate you voted in last election doesn't show up good response don’t vote for that but try a new one which you think that by giving chance to him he can show up some good work. Do not become a die hard follower of one party only for all your life, try for a change to bring change.

History of Pakistan has  showed  us some die hard followers of all time they didn't try any other and didn't bring change in their society instead they make their families also bound to that party. This system thus enhances the probability of the loop in which these parties will come into rule. Some areas specially are known as “ Garh” far a particular party and you will discover not a single voter of any other party which is extremely wrong. When we talk about having democracy where freedom of speech, rights and vote occur pioneering such situation is extremely bad.

If we will run for change definitely change will come towards us. The political parties leaders will see that no more traditions of die hard followers has left because we haven't done anything for them so they wont vote us so this time we've to do something for them so they do vote for us. But unfortunately we haven't done any of this we've been departed in parties defending whether they have done something wrong or right, hunting for rivals parties weaknesses and ignoring our own one.

The mistake is not of politicians but we’re the guilty one because we've let them a chance to do that for us and that things is the biggest  obstacle in the establishment of Pakistan. Try to know your political candidates at their best and search for their work in the development of the society if you find nothing interesting don’t vote for that even he/she belong high profile party instead go for the candidate who is passionate to accomplish his work.

Do vote and vote and vote for right candidate, if your family member are willing to vote another party don’t try to force them to vote yours instead encourage their point of view.