Election Commission of Pakistan to void 2 constituencies poll result over low women turnout

A report has been sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by its secretariat recommending that the polls in NA-10 (Shangla) and NA-48 (North Waziristan) — where women votes were less than 10 per cent of the total polled votes — be declared void, the Dawn reported quoting a source in the ECP.

The number of registered voters in a constituency includes both men and women who have registered to vote. The 10 per cent law was passed to ensure that women participated in the polls, and were not marginalised or coerced into not 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 per cent, the results of the polls may be declared void.

Shangla NA seat was won by PML-N candidate while an independent candidate clinched North Waziristan seat.

In NA-10 (Shangla) the total number of registered voters is 374,343. Out of the 212,294 male voters, 115,639 (54 pc) cast their votes while only 12,663 women 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 female votes was less than 10 per cent of the total votes.

Ibadullah Khan of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had won the seat by clinching 34,070 votes in a closely contested battle with Saeed ur Rahman of the Awami National Party who bagged 32,665 votes.

It was one of 44 constituencies where the number of rejected votes was higher 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 77,537 female voters just 6,364 (8.19 pc) turned up to vote. Women voters fell short 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 votes defeating the PTI's Aurangzeb Khan who managed 10,369.

There were many other constituencies where the turnout for women voters remained low, but above the yardstick of 10 per cent of the total vote.

In as many as 18 constituencies, the women voters' turnout was higher in terms of percentage against male voters.

Still however — overall — there were many constituencies where women represented less than one-third of the total votes cast.