Cabinet approves abolition of electronic voting machines

Lahore: The Punjab government approved the abolition of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) by amending the election rules.

According to details, former Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Kanwar Dilshad briefed the cabinet that EVM is currently not a viable project and is a waste of time. Punjab government abolished EVM through an ordinance. It was done in the light of the recommendations of the Election Commission.

The Ordinance will remain in force for three months, after which the cabinet will extend it by three months. It is the prerogative of government to use EVMs or not.

The cabinet was briefed that the use of EVMs will make the election results controversial. In rural areas of Pakistan the load shedding period is up to 14 hours where EVMs cannot operate.

Adviser to caretaker Chief Minister Punjab Kanwar Dilshad briefed that a whole network will be used for using EVMs which the government does not have. The previous government did not allocate money in the budget for using EVMs.

The cabinet was told that the caretaker government can abolish EVMs through an ordinance. The government of Usman Buzdar deliberately put EVMs in the Act. Election Commission is clear that EVM is not a viable project.