Many Baghlan residents yet to get voter cards

PUL-I-KHUMRI (PAN): Residents of several districts of northern Baghlan province say they have not yet received voter cards, with the registration campaign wrapped up in rural areas.

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) launched a 45-day registration drive at the village level through mobile teams on Sept.28.

Residents of Baghlan-i-Markazi, Tala wa Barfak and Borka districts claim mobile teams did not visit many villages in the three districts and ended the registration process.

Mohammad Aziz, a local merchant in Baisqal area of Baghlan-i-Markazi, said residents of his village had not been able to get voter cards in the previous elections due to insecurity that time.

But now when the security situation had improved, mobile voter registration teams were reluctant to visit villages, he said.

He said 750 families lived in Baisqal and all of them were deprived of having the voter cards despite repeated calls on the regional IEC office in this regard.

“Our people will not be able to participate in the upcoming elections if no attention is paid by the authorities concerned,” he said.

Haji Hakim from Kalola Sang area of Tala wa Barfak district said it took residents four hours to reach the district centre on foot. He said mobile registration teams had confined their activities to district centres alone.

He claimed residents of four other villages with a population of about 1,500 people had been in the same dilemma.

Baghlan police chief Brig. Gen. Asadullah Sherzad confirmed the problem facing residents of the said districts, saying there were no security threats that kept mobile teams from visiting villages.

Provincial IEC office head Amanullah Habibi said the registration process had not yet ended and efforts would be intensified to ensure all residents across the province obtained voter cards.

“Residents of these districts have not approached us about their failure to get voter cards. We are trying to register eligible voters.”

He explained five mobile teams had been tasked with distributing voter cards to people in big districts such as Baghlan-i-Markazi, four teams to small and three to smaller districts.

He said the registration campaign had been satisfactory so far and more than 100,000 people, including 40 percent women, had been issued voter cards.

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