ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided to conduct more trials of biometric voter verification machines before finalising a plan to introduce the technology nationwide in the next general elections.

The decision has been taken on the basis of the lessons learnt during the pilot project in NA-19 Haripur, where these machines, as per plan, were to be used at 30 polling stations.

A detailed report submitted by the ECP’s IT wing reveals that the biometric machines could not be used in five of the 30 polling stations selected. The presiding officers, according to the report seen by Dawn, claimed this happened due to poor signal and connectivity issues in their area. However, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had already verified the availability of signals at the sites.

Of the 25 polling stations where the machines did work, there were eight polling stations where the number of voters who couldn’t be verified by biometric means was more than those who were authenticated by the online system. At polling station Number 7, only 16 per cent of all voters could be verified online. The total number of votes polled at this polling station was 460, of which only 73 votes were verified by the system.

Similarly, only 18pc of the votes cast at polling station No 42 – or 138 out of a total 787 – could be electronically verified. At polling stations 67 and 308, only 62 and 63pc votes could be verified, respectively.

However, there were polling stations where the success rate was encouraging. At polling stations No 32 and 216, 94pc of all polled votes were successfully verified by the system. At polling station No 32, 693 of a total of 736 votes were verified biometrically, while 499 out of a total 532 votes were successfully verified at polling station No 216.

The report points out certain shortcomings on the part of the polling staff, saying that some did not apply due diligence and did not appear interested in using these machines in the least. This, the report stated, was because they viewed this task as an additional burden and to be performed during polling hours.

According to the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) and the PTA, the online biometric authentication system and the telecommunications infrastructure were not designed for the purpose of electoral activity, meaning that it was impossible to utilise the online biometric authentication system to its full potential by using mobile communications.

This test was the initial stage of testing and more trials are necessary, because just one or two tests are not sufficient basis on which to formulate a national policy.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2015

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