NA-58 Chakwal recorded the lowest gender gap in voter registration among all National Assembly constituencies across Pakistan in 2026, with a difference of 3,560 between registered male and female voters — equivalent to just 0.58% of the constituency’s total registered electorate. The constituency stands at the closest point to electoral gender parity of any National Assembly seat in the country.
According to data released by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), NA-58 Chakwal had 308,815 registered male voters against 305,255 registered female voters as of 2026, for a total registered electorate of 614,070. Male and female voters each constituted 50% of the registered electorate — a distribution that no other National Assembly constituency in Pakistan has matched in the current electoral rolls.
A substantial improvement from 2024
In 2024, the constituency recorded a gender gap of 6,805 — equivalent to 1.15% of its then-total electorate of 594,009. By 2026, the gap had narrowed by 3,245 voters in absolute terms and by 0.57 percentage points. In two years, the absolute gap was nearly halved.
The constituency’s total registered electorate grew by 20,061 voters between 2024 and 2026 — from 594,009 to 614,070. Male voters increased by 8,408 and female voters by 11,653. The considerably faster growth in female registrations — 38.6% more new female registrants than male — drove the gap to its current near-parity level. The constituency has remained well below the 10% threshold under the Elections Act, 2017 and its trajectory marks it as a measurable benchmark for what sustained registration efforts can achieve at the constituency level.
What the Elections Act requires
The continued presence of a gap of this nature underscores the need for sustained institutional action. 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 enrol 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.
