The Independent Election Commission (IEC) says since the beginning of the voter registration process, more than 1.7 million people have been registered to vote in the upcoming parliamentary and district council elections.

Among 1,717,439 registered voters, Kabul has the highest rate of registered voters (619,107), followed by Kandahar (236,393), Helmand (90,129), Balkh (66,340), Bamyan (32,315), Parwan (25,272), Badakhshan (11,334) and Panjshir (7,826) provinces respectively.

However, the IEC’s recent decision to stamp on the copy of voters’ identity cards has turned into a controversial issue.  The election observers and a number of parliament members said that the move makes way for fraud in the election.

“Putting a sticker on copy of Identity card of a large number of people will pave the ground for mass fraud in the election process,” said Naeem Ayoub Zada, Head of the Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA).

“Stamping on voters’ Identity card can be described as a move for corruption,” said Senator Jumaddin Giyaniwal.

This comes as based on the IEC’s timetable, the upcoming parliamentary and district council elections will be held on October 20 this year.