'LG polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa not possible before July': CEC-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: government meeting on April 11

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has sent a letter to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for a meeting on April 11 regarding local bodies' elections in the province. The meeting would be chaired by acting chief election commissioner (CEC) and attended by KP chief secretary, secretary local government, provincial election commissioner and Nadra chairman.
According to ECP officials, the KP government has already sent the copies of local government laws, relevant rules and the notification of delimitation to the election commission - the three prerequisites for the polls. According to sources, the CEC has found certain flaws in the rules and delimitation, which needed to be amended. "There are certain areas where KP will have to make further changes in the LG laws and rules and it will have to go to the provincial assembly again, the sources opined."
Citing an example, the sources said that the provincial government has been demanding introduction of biometrics voter's verification system in the voting, but it has not been reflected in the manuals prepared for election staff and voters' information. Once these prerequisites are fulfilled, it will take ECP at least 90 days to organise the polls, the sources said, adding that the KP government has an ambitious demand, believed to be the main cause of the delay, in incorporating the biometrics voter verification system in the polling process.
ECP officials were of the view that once a final decision was taken to use digital technology, the process to procure and install biometric machines would alone take at least three months. Moreover, the KP government and the CEC are not on the same page on the use of the biometric system, the claimed, saying that although the ECP wanted to use this technology in limited constituencies as a pilot project to test its results, the PTI has been insisting on using the biometric machines for verifying the identity of voters all over the province.
"The local bodies' elections will not be possible before July, if we have to use the biometric verification devices," the officials added. Another issue pertained to the cost of buying these biometric machines, they pointed out, adding that an estimated 50,000 polling booths would have to be set up in the province, thereby meaning that at least 50,000 machines would have to be procured. As the each machine would cost at least Rs 30, 000, about Rs 1.5 billion would be required to buy these machines.