ISLAMABAD: Local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) were not possible before June was the crux of what transpired at a meeting of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) here on Thursday.

The meeting was held with Acting Chief Election Commissioner Justice Nasirul Mulk in the chair to discuss local government polls in KP and other aspects, including the proposed introduction of biometric system to verify voters at polling stations.

Sources in the ECP told Dawn that a committee had been formed to examine anomalies in the LG law and delimitation carried out in KP.

The committee headed by Acting Additional Secretary of ECP Syed Sher Afgan and having representation of Nadra and the KP government will meet on April 17 to finalise the amendments needed to remove anomalies and submit a report to the ECP the same day.

Another committee mandated to examine the biometric system-related matters and the changes required in laws and rules for introduction of the system would also have the same schedule.

The sources said the ECP was expected to meet after April 20 to take a final decision about the fate of LG polls in KP.

A source said that the elections at the earliest were possible in June, if held without introduction of the biometric system. However, he added, that too depended on how fast the KP government would move to complete the prerequisites for announcement of election schedule. Any delay could take the polls to August as Ramazan would fall in June-July.

He said under the existing LG law of KP, the ECP has 90-120 days for holding of LG polls after receiving a formal request from the government.

He said introduction of biometric system for LG polls in KP in haste would be unwise. The pilot project to examine viability of the idea is not very encouraging. A huge amount will be required to procure 50,000 biometric machines. Nadra would be required to store data of each constituency in the machines which would take months, he added.

He said the tendering procedure, time for manufacture of machines by the supplier, storage of required data by Nadra, transportation of machines to polling stations and other related jobs would simply mean taking the polls to year 2015.