ECP Voter Registration Pilot in Two Districts
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday announced the ECP voter registration pilot to reduce the gender gap in voter registration in Kasur district of Punjab and Qamber-Shahdadkot district of Sindh.
According to the ECP, data collection for the initiative will be carried out in November 2026, while voter registration activities will continue from December 2026 to February 2027.
The initiative aims to identify women eligible for Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) and voter registration, encourage them to register and facilitate the process.
How the ECP voter registration pilot will work
Local social workers and enumerators will conduct door-to-door visits to prepare statistical block-wise lists and run awareness campaigns. The National Database and Registration Authority’s (Nadra) Mobile Registration Vans (MRVs) will be deployed at their doorsteps, while facilitation will also be provided at registration centres established in government buildings.
Representatives of the education and health sectors, civil society organisations and local communities will assist the ECP in the initiative.
The design matters because it tackles two barriers at once. A woman who lacks a CNIC cannot enter the voter list, and a woman who has a card but never reaches a registration point stays off the roll all the same. Doorstep vans and government-building centres are meant to close both gaps in the same visit.
The two districts and the numbers
Through the campaign, the ECP aims to facilitate the registration of 115,689 women in Kasur and 59,156 in Qamber-Shahdadkot. Areas with a wider gender gap will be prioritised in the initial phase.
| District | Province | Women targeted |
|---|---|---|
| Kasur | Punjab | 115,689 |
| Qamber-Shahdadkot | Sindh | 59,156 |
| Total | 174,845 |
The district figures add up to the overall target of 174,845 women reported for the same initiative, a useful cross-check that the two accounts describe one programme rather than two separate drives.
Kasur accounts for about two thirds of the target, which reflects the size of its unregistered population rather than any difference in method. Both districts will follow the same timetable: data collection in November, then registration work from December to February.
Why the gender gap is the target
The pilot is narrow by design. It does not aim to rewrite the national voter list. It aims to find eligible women who are missing from it, district by district, block by block.
That focus is why the ECP is pairing CNIC facilitation with voter registration. In many cases the missing step is the identity card, not the will to vote. By bringing Nadra vans to doorsteps, the commission is trying to remove the travel and paperwork burden that keeps women off the roll.
The pilot also tests a method. If door-to-door lists, awareness campaigns and mobile vans work in Kasur and Qamber-Shahdadkot, the same approach could be extended to other districts with wide gender gaps. If they fall short, the commission will have block-level data showing where and why.
The wider ECP workload
The pilot sits alongside other electoral work already under way. The ECP has notified the delimitation schedule for the Quetta and Kharian cantonment boards, with ward lists due in November and final lists in January 2027. Delimitation is separate from this pilot: it draws ward boundaries, while the pilot adds missing women voters to the rolls.
Readers should not confuse the two exercises. One decides the shape of wards in two cantonments. The other decides whether tens of thousands of women in two districts can vote at all.
What happens next
Data collection begins in November 2026. Registration activities then run from December 2026 to February 2027. The ECP has not yet published results for either district, and the success of the pilot will be judged on how many of the 174,845 targeted women actually complete registration by February.
Frequently asked questions
Which districts are covered by the pilot?
Kasur district in Punjab and Qamber-Shahdadkot district in Sindh.
How many women does the ECP aim to register?
The ECP aims to facilitate the registration of 115,689 women in Kasur and 59,156 in Qamber-Shahdadkot, a total of 174,845.
When will the work take place?
Data collection will be carried out in November 2026, and voter registration activities will continue from December 2026 to February 2027.
How will women be reached?
Local social workers and enumerators will make door-to-door visits, Nadra Mobile Registration Vans will be deployed at doorsteps, and facilitation will be provided at registration centres in government buildings.
