PPP Sindh’s head Nisar Ahmed Khuhro has asked MQM-Pakistan’s convener Dr Khalid Muqoob Siddiqui to take part in a multi-party conference as stakeholders have been unhappy and skeptical of the ongoing digital census.

The first-ever digital census began on March 1 with the aim of announcing results on April 30.

The meeting is scheduled to be held at Beach Luxury Hotel at 4pm on March 17, Friday. The PPP plans to invite several politicians.

Khuhro said that the PPP believes that there are flaws in the digital census system. The census tablet app is not working in Sindh’s rural areas, for example.

Khuhro is worried that the digital census will meet the same fate as the Result Transmission System in the 2018 elections.

Khuhro said that the population of Sindh should be counted properly and illegal immigrants should have a separate section in the census. Each member’s identity card must be checked to differentiate between Pakistani citizens and non-citizens.

Flood victim data should be counted with NADRA’s help. He concluded by saying that the census will become controversial if these concerns are not addressed.

Every political party has demanded a “fair count” in order to ensure the registration of voters. This, according to them, is key to recognizing their vote bank.

The project will cost Rs34 billion and will need 86,000 members of the armed forces for security. Authorities have trained 121,000 field staff provided by provincial governments and 126,000 tablets with SIMs have been provided for the secure management of data.