Sixty-nine of 593 Provincial Assembly (PA) constituencies recorded a gender gap in voter registration above the legally permissible threshold of 10 percent, according to the constituency-wise electoral rolls published by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on 3 February 2026.
During the General Elections 2018 (GE-2018), 370 PA constituencies recorded a gender gap in voter registration exceeding 10 percent. This represented approximately 64 percent of the total PA constituencies in the country at the time. In 2018, the provincial assemblies comprised 577 constituencies; however, the number of PA constituencies was subsequently increased to 593 following the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province under the 25th Constitutional Amendment in May 2018. Following the constitutional amendment and the subsequent merger of the FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 16 additional seats were allocated to the former tribal region in the KP Assembly. Since the 25th Amendment in the Constitution, the number of PA constituencies in the four provincial assemblies has now stood at 593.
Read FAFEN’s story: History of Constitutional Amendments in Pakistan
By the time of the General Elections 2024 (GE-2024), the number of such constituencies with a gender gap exceeding 10 percent had declined significantly from 370 to 101, accounting for 17 percent of all PA constituencies.
More recent voter statistics released in February 2026 indicate further improvement. According to the updated electoral rolls issued by the ECP, only 69 such constituencies-approximately 11.6 percent of the total-now have a gender-gap of more than 10 percent between registered male and female voters. These figures suggest a continuing, though uneven, trend toward greater gender balance in the electoral rolls. reflecting a gradual but steady narrowing of the gender gap in voter registration across the country. While the overall trend is encouraging, 69 constituencies remaining above the legal threshold indicate that structural and sociocultural barriers to female voter registration persist in parts of the country.
Read FAFEN’s story: Constituency-wise electoral rolls as on 3 February 2026
What the Elections Act requires
The continued presence of a gap of this magnitude nonetheless underscores the need for sustained institutional actions. Section 47(1) of the Elections Act, 2017 requires the ECP to annually publish disaggregated data of registered male and female voters in each constituency and to highlight the difference in their numbers. Under Section 47(2), the Commission must take special measures in any constituency where this difference exceeds 10 percent, including measures to reduce this variation. Section 47(3) further specifies that these measures shall include action by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to expedite National Identity Card (NIC) issuance for women in affected constituencies, and by the ECP to enroll them as voters in the relevant electoral area. This provision places a clear, joint institutional responsibility on both NADRA and the ECP to address the gender gap where it crosses the legal threshold.
These measures include targeted voter registration campaigns, NIC facilitation drives, and community-level outreach to address the barriers that continue to limit women’s registration. Consistent implementation of these provisions is critical to ensuring that the downward trend in the gender gap is sustained and accelerated in the electoral rolls ahead of the next general elections.
Read FAFEN’s Story: 54% of Pakistan’s Population Is Registered as Voters
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