ISLAMABAD:
Under the directions of parliamentary committee on electoral reforms, election authorities have considered using biometric machines for NA-19 (Haripur) where by-polls will be held on August 16.
If the idea materialises, NA-19 will be the first constituency where biometric system will be used as a pilot project in the election history of the country.
“No final decision has been taken yet, however, the parliamentary committee has been pressing the commission to use modern technology as an experiment,” an official of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) told a local media outlet.
Though, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had made a demand to use biometric machines during the local government (LG) elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), the election authorities resisted the move citing technical and administrative reasons. The LG polls in the province were held on May 30 through the conventional manual system.