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PESHAWAR, Dec 09 (APP): Provincial Election Commissioner Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Saeed Gul on Tuesday said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is actively working to ensure the maximum participation of women and other marginalised groups in the electoral process.
Speaking at a one-day workshop held in a local hotel here Saeed Gul outlined the ECP’s plans for a comprehensive voter-registration drive targeting women who do not yet possess national identity cards.
In collaboration with NADRA, the programme uses mobile registration vans to issue CNICs at women’s doorsteps, he said, and urged all stakeholders especially organisations working with women to support the national initiative.
The provincial commissioner said the campaign is currently under way in 13 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts including Peshawar, Khyber, Charsadda, Nowshera, Mardan, Swabi, Swat, Shangla, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Kohat, Hangu and Battagram. The aim, he added, is to reduce the gender gap in voter registration to below 7 percent.
Gul also noted that the ECP implements special measures at election time for women voters, including gender-sensitivity training and media awareness campaigns.
He expressed hope that workshop participants would focus on learning best budgeting practices to ensure efficient use of allocated funds in future programmes.
The workshop was attended by KP regional and district election commissioners, Director General Gender and Social Inclusion Nighat Siddiq, Election Commission Secretariat officials, Joint Provincial Election Commissioners Mohammad Farid Afridi and Shahid Iqbal, Deputy Director Gender and Social Inclusion Shabbir Khan, Assistant Director Budget Naeem Sarwar, and gender directors from the provincial offices of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan.
Director General Nighat Siddiq provided a detailed overview of the workshop’s objectives and priorities.