ISLAMABAD - The mock voting held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for accuracy of proposed biometric system in LB polls is not likely to be approved by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the reason that it is time-consuming system.
Sources privy to the development said that the proposed biometric system, which the PTI-led provincial government desires to introduce in the LB polls to ensure transparency, is taking between 10 to 13 minutes for the voter to cast his/her vote. “Due to these types of technical problems, the ECP may not approve the biometric system for the upcoming polls in KPK,” the sources said.
They said that a voter will pass through seven stages to cast his/her vote through the biometric system which is a cumbersome process to ensure casting of votes at polling station within give time.
The Provincial Election Commission, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Saturday conducted trial voting under the biometric system at village council Budhni, ward Wadpagga and Sir Buland Pura in Peshawar district with the financial assistance of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led provincial government. The exercise was aimed at checking the success of the biometric system in holding error-free and transparent polling and thwarting bogus voting in the impending local government elections in the province.
The thumb impression and computerised national identity card of voters were verified through the biometric machine. However, some problems were encountered in recognising the thumb impressions, as the biometric system was unable to verify thumbs having removed ridges as well as that of female thumb impression in case henna was applied to it.
Acting Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan Justice Nasirul Mulk and KPK Election Commissioner Sono Khan Baloch, KP and Balochistan provinces members in the ECP and KP secretary local government were present to observe the mock polling using the biometric system developed by NADRA. The NADRA officials were also monitoring the biometric system along with the Election Commission officials.