ISLAMABAD: After getting an order last month to delay the local government elections in Punjab and Sindh, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) again approached the Supreme Court on Friday, suggesting that the polls be held in three phases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The law and order situation in the province provides ample justification to hold the elections in phases to ensure security, an application submitted to the court by the ECP as well as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government said.

In order to hold the elections in phases, said the application, the provincial government and the ECP needed extension of the date. The last week of April would be most suitable for holding the first phase of the elections.

The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had not suggested any election date earlier.

On Jan 13, the court allowed the commission to scrap the election schedules for Sindh and Punjab and announce new dates after completing the prerequisites.

Earlier, the ECP had proposed the third-time revised dates of Feb 23 and March 13 for polls in the two provinces.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government said the authorities would be able to notify the delimitation by Feb 15. It said it was doing its best to ensure a transparent and fair completion of the delimitation process to avoid disputes and litigation.

The provincial government, ECP and the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) were thinking of utilising a biometric system in the local government elections, the application said. The system and equipment suggested by Nadra were tested in Peshawar and Islamabad on Dec 28 and Jan 11.

The application said the provincial government had requested the ECP to hold the local councils’ election in three phases.

It recalled that the local government elections in 2001 and 2005 were also held in phases in the province.

There are 26 districts and 74 tehsils in the province and the government has proposed around 3,200 village and neighbourhood councils.

The tiers of local councils proposed in the system require every voter to cast seven ballot papers for various categories of candidates – a process that will consume more time as compared to the earlier elections. The process will need a larger number of staff and booths to complete the process within the polling hours.

Thus if the elections were held in phases, not only would less number of polling staff be required but also a lesser number of biometric machines, it said, adding that it would also be in the interest of the public to hold the elections in three phases in the geographical zones of north (Malakand and Hazara), centre (Peshawar and Mardan) and south (Kohat, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan).