KABUL (SW): Officials of the Population Registration Directorate and the Independent Election Commission (IEC) were invited by the Wolesi Jirga (lower house) for briefing on electoral matters.
Members of the house stressed forging of the identity cards is underway rampantly, and there is no mechanism to counter it.
Humayon Mohtat, head of the Population Registration Directorate, told the house the IEC had proposed using paper identity cards for polls while the PRD was opposed to it from the beginning. He went on to say there is no chance of completely fair elections with these cards and the ‘outdated’ system.
He noted it is the duty of the law enforcement agencies to counter the use of fabricated identity cards in the elections.
On the other end, members also lamented the closure of voter registration centers and non-availability of electoral material in a number of areas in the country. However, the IEC officials said out of a total of 4491 voter registration centers, only 733 are closed due to different reasons.
At the end of the session, the members expressed dissatisfaction over the briefing of the IEC and PRD officials, and expressed that there is no mechanism present to remove the glitches associated with the voter registration drive.
ENDS