The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Punjab has traced 500 ghost votes of Kashmiris in Lahore, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Thursday, quoting its sources. 

The ECP inspected votes of Kashmiris living in Lahore and found 500 ghost votes. The ECP has now rejected these votes from the voters list of Kashmiris in Lahore. Most of the ghost voters were from Misri Shah, Shadbagh and Shahdara.

The sources said that the ECP did not find any trace or address of these 500 votes and has also conveyed the information about these ghost votes to the Election Commission of Azad Kashmir.

The ECP has also launched a further probe in the matter as these voters are not eligible to cast their votes. 

See Also: Despite Covid-19 AJK elections must be held on time

After the scrutiny, now there are 10,500 voters of Azad Kashmir in Lahore, Jammu voters are 5,700 and Kashmir Valley voters are 4,800.

The ECP sources claimed the ECP Punjab has also computerized the manual record of the Kashmiri voters in Lahore.   

It is pertinent to note that the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has suggested postponing the upcoming Azad Jammu And Kashmir (AJK) election by two months.

The NCOC has also written a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner of AJK, stating that due to the rise in the number of coronavirus cases in the country, the polls should be delayed. 

However, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider on Tuesday said that just like by-polls took in Pakistan despite the pandemic, elections in Azad Kashmir should also be conducted and cannot be postponed.