KARACHI: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday said that Biometric Verification Machines (BVMs) will not be used in Karachi by-election being held on July 9.
According to an official of ECP, the decision was made due to the unavailability of thumb impression record of voters from the concerned department.
He said that the concerned ECP staff also required one-month training with these machines and it is not possible to use these machines on trial basis for the by-election.
Talking about the efficacy of the machines, he said that a complete data of electoral rolls will be fed in these biometric machines, which will further ensure transparency in scrutinising the voters’ names.
He said that the report on results of scrutiny of pilot testing will be presented before the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms.
He said that the ECP has so far received a consignment of 100 BVMs from a private firm called Secure Tech Pvt. Ltd to use for election purposes.
He added that these machines, which are more technically efficient and reliable, will meet the technical requirement of the commission.
