ISLAMABAD, Jan 30: The Election Commission of Pakistan missed the target to achieve almost all the short-term objectives in line with its first ever five-year strategic plan unveiled in May, 2010.

Out of the 76 objectives which the commission was set to achieve by December 31, 2011, only six could be realised while work is still in progress on the remaining 70, including the all-important revision of the electoral rolls, said the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency in the first citizens monitoring report on the state of electoral reforms released on Monday. It added that the interest in the new and accurate electoral rolls was turning into a concern and worry as the election date drew closer.

Pointing out that the EC now forecasts completion of this work by May 27 and the Supreme Court has fixed February 23 as the deadline to complete the final electoral rolls, the report said these dates assumed great significance in the context of PML-N's campaign to force an early election and dissolution of the assemblies before the Senate polls scheduled for March 2 and the strong PPP interest in not accepting the demand. “What is even more crucial is that contrary to its constitutional obligation under Article 219 of the Constitution, the EC has failed to update the current electoral rolls annually for the last four years and, as some would argue, the outdated electoral rolls are unusable for snap polls.”

It said under the electoral rolls act 1974, the commission was bound to display the preliminary electoral rolls for minimum 21 days for inviting public objections, complaints and applications for corrections. A further period will be required to incorporate the changes and later printing the electoral rolls.Fearing that meeting the deadline in haste may result in once again getting inaccurate and substandard voter list, the report said it was the responsibility of the EC to convey the practical and technical problems to the apex court in meeting the deadline and risks involved in rushing through the process.

The report also noted that the EC had taken some landmark steps towards free and fair election such as initiating a legislation to declare computerised national identity card a prerequisite for registration as a voter and casting a vote; using Nadra database for new electoral rolls; addition of voter's picture in the electoral rolls; studying the feasibility of using an electronic voting machine and plans to establish a political finance wing to check excessive use of money in elections.

Analyzing the progress, the report said preparation of revised computerised electoral rolls was only 75 per cent while efforts to improve the participation of marginalised sections of society such as women, minorities and persons with disabilities had made only 12 per cent progress. Efforts for strengthening the participation of political parties and candidates have yielded only 20 per cent progress so far, it added.