KARACHI, Dec 28: Acting Sindh Election Commissioner Mehboob Anwar visited Karachi’s five district registration offices on Friday to review steps being made to launch a door-to-door verification of voters exercise in the metropolis on Jan 10.

During his visit, Mr Anwar, who replaced Sono Khan Baloch recently, inspected the arrangements for the training of staff required to carry out the verification process.

The Election Commission had extended the date of door-to-door verification of electoral rolls in Karachi from Jan 5 to Jan 10 in order to provide necessary training to the election staff to avoid possibility of any omission in the verification process.The exercise is being conducted on a directive of the Supreme Court of Pakistan for ensuring transparency and holding of free and fair elections.

Sources said that for the field work some 14,000 to 15,000 personnel, most of them from the education department, would be provided necessary training in their respective districts by election authorities.

According to the schedule, the field work would begin on Jan 10 and would be completed within 18 days. Every day, the verification officers (VOs) would prepare a summary containing information about the number of houses visited, number of persons verified and the number of forms of each category filled-in.

The sources said the VOs would hand over a consolidated summary to their senior officer for onward transmission to the ECP.

They said that each VO would also hand over the verified copy of the electoral rolls and filled-in forms to his supervisor, who after necessary checking, would hand over the same to the assistant registration officer concerned for further checking and onward transmission to the Returning Officers concerned.