ECP SMS Service 8300 selected for international award

Pakistan has been selected for the award for launching the ‘8300 SMS Service’ before the May general elections.

Called ‘Accessibility Award’ the prize has been introduced by the International Centre for Parliamentary Studies (ICPS) in a bid to recognize initiatives by election management bodies to bring in election process the category of population which is excluded from electoral process due to social‚ cultural and some other reasons.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in collaboration with NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority) launched the ‘8300 SMS Service’ to help registered voters check the status of their votes and particulars.

The other 16 countries selected for the award are Bangladesh‚ Ghana‚ Kenya‚ Philippines‚ South Africa‚ Peru‚ Georgia‚ Romania‚ Moldova‚ Sweden‚ United States‚ Mongolia‚ Bosnia Herzegovina‚ Slovenia‚ Nigeria‚ and Mauritius.

The ICPS will announce the winner of the award at a ceremony to be held in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 4 where heads of election management bodies of the selected countries are invited.

The ECP gave the SMS service’s contract to NADRA as a technical vendor.

The ECP has been selected for the first time for the ‘Accessibility Award’ for introducing state-of-the-art information and telecommunication technologies to prepare computerized electoral rolls and making it accessible over the mobile SMS service.