QUETTA: The Election Commissioner of Balochistan, Mehboob Anwar, has said the names of about 1.2 million people have been removed from the list of voters because theses were not verified by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).

Speaking at a press conference here on Monday, he said that a door-to-door verification campaign had been launched to compile a final computerised electoral list. He said the Supreme Court had ordered verification of the voters’ list during the hearing on petitions moved by Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chief Imran Khan and TV anchorperson Mubashir Luqman.

Mr Anwar said that after the removal of 1-1.2 million people from the list the number of registered voters in Balochistan had fallen to 3,004,000 from 4,362,272.

In reply to a question, he said the expelled voters had registered themselves in more than one place. Under a new policy, he added, a person must possess the computerised national identity card (CNIC) to get himself registered with the Election Commission as a voter. No other document will be acceptable.

Mr Anwar said the commission would have the support of army or Frontier Corps in the verification campaign. After the completion of first phase of the drive, new computerised electoral lists would be put on display for 21 days for the purpose of correction. However, a person who could not be registered during the drive can get himself registered with the commission till the announcement of holding of elections.

Mr Anwar said polling offices would be provided new electoral lists having pictures of voters during the elections. Thirty assistant election commissioners, 272 assistant registration officers, 2,000 supervisors and 8,000 other staff would take part in the verification drive in 9,214 census blocks in 30 districts of the province. The campaign will continue till Sept 30.