Electoral Rolls Act, 1974 (Repeal by No.F.8 (9)/2017 dated 23-10-2017)

Note: according to the source document's title, this 1974 act was repealed by a notification dated 23 October 2017, so its provisions have likely been superseded by later election legislation (such as the Elections Act, 2017). The description below reflects what the extracted text says the act provided, but readers should treat it as historical and verify current electoral roll rules separately.

The act governed the preparation and revision of electoral rolls (voter lists) used for elections to Pakistan's National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies. Section 4 directed the Election Commission to prepare and computerise these rolls, either from scratch or by revising existing ones, and Section 4A let the Commission regulate its own procedure. Section 5 provided for the appointment of Registration Officers responsible for preparing, revising, and correcting the rolls for their electoral areas.

Sections 8 through 19 set out the mechanics: preliminary publication of draft rolls, appointment of Revising Authorities to hear claims and objections, time limits for lodging claims, transferring a name between electoral areas, and correcting entries. Section 16 covered final publication, Section 17 annual revision, and Section 20 barred corrections once a constituency had been called upon to elect. Section 24 gave the Commission access to birth and death registers to help keep rolls accurate, and Section 25 barred anyone from being enrolled more than once or in more than one electoral area.

Section 27 let the Commission itself add a name to an electoral roll, and Section 30A protected the confidentiality of electoral data. Anyone who obtained, retained, disclosed, published, or misused electoral roll data in breach of the act's security or secrecy requirements was made liable to imprisonment for up to five years, a fine of up to five million rupees, or both. Section 31 let authorised Registration Officers try certain listed offences (drawn from the Pakistan Penal Code) summarily, as if they were a first-class Magistrate. The act carried numerous amendment footnotes (from 1978, 1984, 2000, 2011, and 2016), reflecting how often it was updated before its eventual repeal.