*ISLAMABAD:* The government has put the security of millions of voters atrisk as Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has been authorised toprovide the information of voters, in hard as well as in soft formsincluding the photograph of the voter, to the candidates contesting theelection if they desire.
The parliament had passed the Elections Act 2017 in October last year inwhich it had given the approval to provide voters’ information to thecandidates or an election agent.
“On the application of a candidate or his election agent, the districtelection commissioner or any officer authorised in this behalf by thecommission shall provide to a candidate or an election agent a hard andsearchable soft copy on universal serial bus (USB) in a portable documentformat (PDF) or any other tamper-proof format of the final electoral rollwith photographs of the voters, and shall ensure that the copy is the sameas provided to the returning officer and presiding officers,” documentstated.
Former ECP additional secretary Afzal Khan termed the move as deceit withthe country as nobody can give the information of voters to anyone. It isprivate information and authorised officers of ECP can only give the hardcopy of voters of a concerned constituency to candidates, and there is noreason to provide data in a soft form to anyone, he added.
He claimed that America had tried hard to get voters’ information beforethe last general election, but the former ECP secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed Khanhad blocked the move. Instead of this, the ECP asked the Americans toprovide assistance on voter education but they never did.
He also requested the authorities not to provide soft data to anyone assomeone can misuse it.
Former ECP secretary Kanwar Dilshad stated that it was not a good decisionto give someone’s personal data to anyone. The ECP had shown reservationswhen this matter was discussing in electoral reform committee but now ithas become a law.
He said that the interim government should look into this important matterbefore elections as the data will consist of names, picture and address ofvoters that can be misused by anti-state elements.