KP forgoes biometric system; LB polls likely in June
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ISLAMABAD: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government agreed on Monday to hold local government polls in the province under the conventional system instead of the Voter Identification and Authentication System (Vias) it had been asking the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to adopt to ensure transparency and fairness in the electoral process.
The development came after a KP delegation led by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak was apprised during a meeting at the ECP of disadvantages of Vias or the biometric voter verification system if it was put to use in haste.
Also read: ‘LG polls in Sindh, Punjab may be delayed beyond 2015’
Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan presided over the meeting.
Official sources told Dawn that elections were now likely to be held by mid-June this year.
The chief minister was informed that the ECP would announce the poll schedule in April. He was also informed that if things went ahead smoothly and the schedule was announced in early April, LG polls were likely to held by the end of May or in early June.
The elections in any case will not be allowed to be delayed beyond June, the ECP officials said.
Mr Khattak was told that if the KP stuck to its demand of introducing Vias, the elections were not likely to be organised before September. They said that besides involving a huge amount of money, adequate time would be required for the process of procurement of the new voting system, including tendering, manufacturing time for successful bidders and its transportation to polling stations.
After the meeting, it was agreed that biometric system would not be used in the upcoming LG polls and polls would be held under the conventional system.
Both the KP government and the ECP had been blaming each other in the past for delay in holding the LG polls.
An ECP official told Dawn that the KP government would now send a formal request to the ECP for holding the LG elections.
Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2015
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