Overseas Pakistanis won't be able to cast votes in 2018 election: NADRA

ISLAMABAD: The officials of National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) informed that overseas Pakistanis will not be able to cast their votes in the upcoming general election of Pakistan,

“Pakistanis who are living abroad have been misguided through various campaigns running on social media networks as any decision has not been taken yet with regards to online voting facility for overseas Pakistanis,” NADRA officials clarified.

However, the registration authority shared that online voting for overseas Pakistanis can be experimented during by-polls.

Only those overseas Pakistanis are eligible to vote in 2018 general elections who come to Pakistan and are registered voters of the country, NADRA officials stated while recounting the only scenario where overseas Pakistan are qualified to use their voting right.

It is worth mentioning here that a case related to overseas Pakistanis’ right to vote is sub-judice with the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar had remarked that overseas Pakistanis will be given the right to cast their votes.

The general elections 2018 of Pakistan are due on July 25. The polling day will mark a second transition of a democratic government in Pakistan.

A total of 105.96 million voters out of total population of about 200 million people are included in the electoral roll to cast vote in elections on July 25, 2018. They include: 59.22million male and 46.73million females, with the gender gap between male and female rising to around 12.5m. This shows that 55.9 per cent of the registered voters in Pakistan are males while only 44.1pc are females.