Pakistan launched its first-ever digital population and housing census on Wednesday in an effort to securely gather demographic data on every individual ahead of the General elections this year. However, technical issues and other miscellaneous problems slowed down the process in Karachi, Aaj News has learnt.

The digital census is being carried out by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). It has the support of the National Technology Council (NTC), National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), provincial governments as well as the armed forces.

However, despite all of the aforementioned resources, only 20 percent of the work was completed on the first day in Karachi, sources said.

Staff members, while speaking to the Aaj News, blamed the provincial government for lapses claiming that 80 percent of the officials couldn’t get into the field because they were not given security.

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Apart from that, they also complained about the technical issues they faced using government-provided tablets. “They continue to hang during the process,” one of the staff members said.

Assistant Commissioner Gulberg Dadan Lashari also admitted that they faced some issues on the first day of the census. “Staff has identified some problems, and the PBS and NADRA have been informed about them.”