ISLAMABAD: There are a total of 1.87 million voters in 43 cantonments in 29 districts across the country registered for the upcoming local government elections.

A National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) spokesperson told Dawn that there are 1.01 million men and 0.86 million women on the electoral rolls.

He said Nadra had delivered the final electoral rolls to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to be used for the local government elections scheduled to be held on April 25.

The authority has been given strict timelines by the Supreme Court for the completion of the task,the ofHeialsaid.

`Some of the country`s leading experts considered these timelines difficult to meet,` he added The official said Nadra was working overtime to resolve the backlog of Computerised National Identity Cards (CNIC) and verification of votes from various constituencies.

`Nadra has managed to complete the task of updating the electoral rolls for the local government elections in cantonments across the country,` he said.

The authority has also include d the photographs of all voters on the computerised local bodies electoral rolls, a measure which has been taken for the first time in Pakistan.

The measure was taken to counter the numerous allegations of discrepancies in electoral rolls made by political parties and civil society organisations following last general elections.

In the past, the electoral rolls for voters in the cantonment areas had been prepared through door-to-door counting and there was an absence of authentic data.

`During this period 84,442 new CNICs were provided by Nadra to the ECP for registration as voters. After lists were displayed at schools by the ECP, Nadra used its resources to digitise the electoral rolls,` the Nadra spokesperson added.