By-election in NA-246: no chance of polling through biometric verification system

The government may not be able to conduct by-election in NA-246 through biometric verification system as suggested by Rangers, as it will require amending existing laws as well as ensuring availability of required number of biometric machines in a short period of time. Sources within Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) told Business Recorder that at least 769 biometric machines were required for each of polling booths of NA-246 while at present the Commission did not possess a single machine.
"Holding of the polls through biometric system in the constituency is possible only if the government comes up with an amendment in the existing laws and asks NADRA to provide its biometric system along with its staff; otherwise it's not possible," said a senior ECP official.
The Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, through a letter, recently asked Home Department to take measures for the installation of a biometric verification system and 1,000 closed-circuit television cameras - at least one at every polling station for NA-246 to ensure fair and transparent by-election scheduled for April 23.
A Rangers spokesman Major Sabtain confirmed to Business Recorder that a request had been made to the home department Sindh for installation of the system to ensure free and fair elections.
Former Secretary ECP Kanwar Dilshad Mohammad said the government needed to amend the rules for conducting the by-election through biometric system. According to him, the ECP can only send a summary to the President for amendment in the rules and it is possible in 24 hours.
However, both the ECP and NADRA sources said it would take time to implement the decision to conduct polls through biometric system even if the government amended the laws that day.
"Purchasing biometric machines is not an issue but we have to follow the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules, which would take at least three months," a senior ECP official pointed out, adding if the government wanted to relax the PPRA rules for purchase of the machines it would take 15 days.
He said it was a long exercise because the biometric machines would also require data entry by NADRA as well as trained staff, which was not available with the ECP at present.
However, he pointed out if the government opted to acquire services of NADRA, it would need to provide the required number of its biometric machines, which might imply that their routine work of issuing computerised national identity cards may suffer.
The official further pointed out there was also the issue of accuracy of the biometric system as it did not read finger prints of some citizens like aged people, labourers and those suffering from some diseases. He said some arrangements were also needed for these citizens if the polls were to be held through biometric system as these people also have an equal right to vote.
According to him, the state-of-the-art biometric system of NADRA installed as a test case in Islamabad and Peshawar during the last general elections has showed 50 percent errors, which should also be kept in mind.