Nadra lacks the biometric data of 3.72 million women voters in Pakistan

The National Database and Registration Authority in Pakistan (NADRA) does not have the biometric records of as many as 3.72 million women voters, according to a report in Dawn.com. 

The two places where this discrepancy is strongest is in Punjab and Rawalpindi tehsil. In Punjab, the fingerprints and photographs of more than 2.62 million women have not been made available to the registration authority and in Rawalpindi tehsil, out of 1.4 million registered voters, Nadra does not have the biometric records of 45,461 women. In Sailkot, 45,228 women are missing biometric records and In Sindh, 540,000 women’s records are unaccounted for.

In Pakistan, Nadra is responsible for issuing national identity cards, and maintaining the national database of records.

According to the Dawn.com article, in the federal capital where outreach and literacy problems are much less of an issue, 14,228 women are also without biometric records.

According to a senior official at Nadra, any female applicant who opted not to provide her photograph would instead be verified in detail in the database. This includes investigating family linkages, attestation and fingerprint biometrics.

As reported previously in BiometricUpdate.com, the Sindh Provincial Police and Nadra have come to an impasse regarding access to biometric data.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  civil ID  |  elections  |  fingerprint  |  fingerprint scanner  |  fingerprint verification  |  government  |  identification  |  NADRA  |  national ID