ECP still double-minded over use of EVMs in next polls 

Islamabad: Despite the legislation to hold elections using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is still double minded to use it in next polls. 

On Thursday, ECP appeared to be unsure about using upcoming voting machines in next general elections.

This observation came during a meeting of the members of the Standing Committee on Law and Justice of the National Assembly, presided over by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Riaz Fatyana.

During the meeting, the ECP secretary Omar Hamid Khan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha and MNA Aalia Kamran gave their respective pointed out some serious flaws in the bill regarding EVM—approved during the joint session of parliament on Wednesday. 

Implementation of EVM will take ‘a while’, says ECP Secretary

ECP Secretary Omar Hamid Khan told lawmakers that India took 20 years to use these machines while Brazil took 22 years, explaining that it will take them "a while" to implement EVMs.

As per Omar, the use of EVMs is challenging and it is impossible to say whether EVMs will be applicable in the next elections or not. 

“EVMs will have to go through 14 steps before they can be used in the next general election. According to him, there will be three to four more pilot projects related to the use of EVMs,” said ECP secretary.

In his remarks, ECP still have to figure out how many EVMs there will be at each polling station.

EVM lacks biometric verification: Mohsin Shahnawaz 

Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha, a member of parliament from the PML-N, pointed out serious problems— stating that the proposed EVM lacks a biometric verification facility and relies on manual verification. 

MNA Mohsin mentioned, “Currently, the Elections Act allows both electronic and manual voting,” adding that, “The bill introduced electronic voting without replacing manual voting”.

"Someone can vote using a dead man's computerised national identity card," he stressed. 

Balochistan people barely go out to cast vote 

MNA Aalia Kamran raises crucial questions 

MNA Aalia Kamran asked some very valid questions, including how the EVMs could be used in areas without internet.

"People in Balochistan rarely go to the polls. Will they be able to vote on EVMs? She asked.

Yesterday, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Ahsan Iqbal warned that EVMs could be tampered with to manipulate election results.

While talking to media flanked by other Opposition leaders, he said polling results could be doctored through changing a chip in EVMs and that was the reason most countries had discarded these machines.

Iqbal's remarks come a day after the parliament's joint session approved 33 bills including the contentious Elections (Second Amendment) Bill, 2021, which paved the way for the use of EVMs in the next general elections.

He said the opposition believed the judiciary would uphold the Constitution of Pakistan.

The PML-N leader said Nov 17 would be remembered as the darkest day in the history of Pakistan, adding that the opposition would have to take the "parliament issue" to the court.

"The government made the entire electoral process controversial through legislation disputed by other members of the House," he said, adding that the government neglected the Election Commission of Pakistan which was a major stakeholder in the election process.

He also accused the government of attempting to take control of all election arrangements in their hands.

Iqbal said a foundation had been laid to rig the next elections.

Iqbal, quoting "information" given to his party, said that the Nadra chairman was allegedly using organisational resources and data for the government's campaign for the upcoming elections.

"If Nadra is found leaking national data to the government, they will be liable to face treason charges."

Reprimanding the government for its insistence to employ technology in conducting elections, the PML-N leader said Pakistan was a "beggar" in technology and Germany was the "king" of it.

"The Supreme Court in Germany termed that EVMs cannot keep the secrecy of people's vote and hence declared it unconstitutional," explained Iqbal.

He insisted that elections could only be held under laws agreed to by all stakeholders concerned. "If the government takes any step unilaterally, it will be against the [spirit of] fair and transparent polls."

Speaking on the occasion, PPP's Sherry Rehman fired a broadside at the government, saying the treasury benches trampled democratic norms through its "artificial majority" and that too in the presence of the speaker.

"Whatever happened in yesterday's session was worse than martial law and the government made an attempt to rig the next elections," she added.

She said the opposition had offered to resolve differences through talks, "but the NA speaker backtracked on his word and bulldozed the session a day after writing a letter to the opposition."

The PPP leader said the use of EVMs had been rejected the world over and countries like Germany Italy, US had all discarded it.

The PTI government bulldozed 33 bills during a joint session of Parliament on Friday, including the election amendment bill, clearing the way for the use of electronic voting machines during the next elections.

According to the Opposition, these machines are prone to hacking and aren't reliable.