ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s election commission is set to void polls and theirresults in two National Assembly (NA) constituencies over low turnout offemale voters, according to a media report.
A report has been sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by itssecretariat recommending that the polls in NA-10 (Shangla) and NA-48 (NorthWaziristan) where women votes were less than 10% of the total polled votesbe declared void, the Dawn reported quoting a source in the ECP.
The number of registered voters in a constituency includes both men andwomen who have registered to vote. The 10% law was passed to ensure thatwomen participated in the polls, and were not marginalised or coerced intonot voting.
According to the rules, if among the total votes cast in a constituency,the share of women in the final count is less than 10%, the results of thepolls may be declared void.
Shangla NA seat was won by PML-N candidate while an independent candidateclinched North Waziristan seat.
In NA-10 (Shangla) the total number of registered voters is 374,343. Out ofthe 212,294 male voters, 115,639 (54 pc) cast their votes while only 12,663women from the total registered 162,049 female voters turned up to vote.
The total votes cast in the constituency was 128,302 and the 12,663 femalevotes was less than 10% of the total votes.
Ibadullah Khan of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had won the seat byclinching 34,070 votes in a closely contested battle with Saeed ur Rahmanof the Awami National Party who bagged 32,665 votes.
It was one of 44 constituencies where the number of rejected votes washigher than the margin of victory.
In NA-48 (Tribal Area) the total number of registered voters was 274,205.Out of the 196,668 male voters, 57,600 (29.28 pc) and out of a total 77,537female voters just 6,364 (8.19 pc) turned up to vote. Women voters fellshort of just 32 votes to attain the 10pc share in the total polled votes.The seat was won by Mohsin Javed an independent by securing 16,496 votesdefeating the PTI’s Aurangzeb Khan who managed 10,369.
There were many other constituencies where the turnout for women votersremained low, but above the yardstick of 10% of the total vote.
In as many as 18 constituencies, the women voters’ turnout was higher interms of percentage against male voters.