PESHAWAR: Chief Election Commissioner Justice (r) Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan on Wednesday said that the use of electronic voting machines was under consideration in the next general elections.

Speaking at a consultative meeting here, he said that the Election Commission of Pakistan had been working on preparing future line of action about the use of electronic voting machines. The meeting was attended by representatives of 24 political parties, ECP high ups and secretaries of different provincial departments.

Justice Raza said all efforts would be made to conduct the upcoming by-elections of the local bodies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a transparent and fair manner. He said the suggestions floated by the leaderships of the political parties about electoral reforms would be considered.

Later, briefing media persons about the by-elections, ECP additional secretary Fida Mohammad said the by-polls had been scheduled to be conducted on January 23, 2016 for 4,449 seats in 237 village and neighbourhood councils.

He said the candidate would file nomination papers on December 16 and 17, and the final list of the candidates along with election symbols would be displayed on January 1.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2015