Overdue: LG minister wants polls without biometric system

aGovt to write to ECP ‘soon’ regarding final decision.

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government will write a letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) regarding its decision over holding the local government (LG) polls in the province.

This was stated by Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Inayatullah Khan during the Guest Hour Programme at Peshawar Press Club on Thursday.

Khan said the ECP has informed the province that LG elections via the biometric system will require at least 140 days to prepare for; otherwise polls can be held within 45 days.

The minister said both recommendations have been sent to the chief minister who will then decide on the matter after consulting all stakeholders. “Our department has proposed to hold the elections without the biometric system,” he added.

After the CM’s response, a summary will be sent to ECP to decide the date and schedule for the LG elections, shared Khan.

Meanwhile, ECP Deputy Director Media Khurshid Alam told The Express Tribune a standing committee formed to ponder over the problems of LG polls in the province expressed concerns after a recent meeting in Islamabad. Alam maintained members of the committee said delimitation in the province has not been clearly defined.

“It would not be possible to conduct the LG polls under the biometric system in this time period,” Alam said, adding elections will be impossible in some districts of the province owing to “immense” flaws in the local government act.

Participants of the meeting suggested that there should be no variation in the number of union councils (UC) which should be kept at around 700 UCs in every district across the province.

Alam added the provincial government requested to hold LG elections on an experimental basis only in UC Ghazi, Haripur but NADRA required at least 1,000 biometric machines for this purpose which will be impossible to arrange in such a short time.

He said UC Ghazi was selected owing to its limited population and the majority of residents being eligible voters.

He added the ECP has informed the K-P government to apprise them whether they are ready for holding the polls through a letter. “The provincial government will submit the letter today (Friday),” the official added.

Another ECP official said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leadership politicised the issue of biometric system. “Without redressing loopholes in the act, the LG polls will not be possible as there are no sections in the act mentioning biometric systems,” said the official.

An expert on election-related laws told The Express Tribune the election commission will not be able to hold LG polls through the biometric system until the K-P government makes special clauses in the law.

“As per the LG Act 2014, ECP is bound to hold elections within 45 days after the provincial government writes a formal letter to it,” he said.

If the provincial government deems it compulsory to use the biometric system in these elections, the ECP will need much more time to purchase the machines and feed data.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2014.