ECP Urged to Encourage Use of EVMs for Transparent Voting

The government urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to support it in introducing electoral reforms. The federal Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz urged the ECP to encourage the use of EVMs in general elections to ensure credible results.

He further requested the ECP to arrange meetings of the technical committee to review EVMs on a daily basis. He said the EVM was a concept and it was not necessary to use the prototype prepared by the ministry.

ECP Urged to Encourage Use of EVMs for Transparent Voting

“We only want technology-driven elections to ensure transparency in results. Holding transparent, free and fair elections is the prime responsibility and mandate of the ECP and the government does not want to interfere in its domain,”

Mr Faraz said that post-election controversies damaged democracy in the country. He emphasised that transparent elections were imperative to strengthen parliament and democracy.

“There has been speculation over the last few weeks that the government is adamant on introducing EVMs in next general elections and that people will not benefit from such things. As a result, the people are getting confused. However, all major institutions agree to use technology to make elections transparent,”

the minister said.

“Use of technology is imperative to ensure accuracy and transparency in elections. It will help prevent rigging and eliminate mistrust over polling and compilation of results,”

he added.

He said that the government would have had no objections to the use of imported costlier machines in elections if it was not confident in indigenous technological developments.

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Mr Faraz said that the government had also invited the opposition to evaluate the performance of EVM and present their suggestions for further improvement. But the opposition has rejected EVM without even testing it.

“The opposition has rejected EVM without even testing it. It should test the machine, find out flaws in it, if any, and recommend changes,” he said. “Political parties should set aside their own interests and work for the coming generations.”

In the past, political parties won elections through the rigging. That is the only reason they are unwilling to accept the use of modern technology in polls. The minister said that the formation of the joint parliamentary committee on electoral reforms by the National Assembly speaker was a welcoming sign.

He said that the way Prime Minister Imran Khan had introduced a neutral empire to end disputes in cricket. He also wanted to introduce a transparent system in the political field through electoral reforms and the use of technology.

The minister said that EVM demonstrations had also been given in the provincial assemblies, universities and forums representing traders and lawyers.

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Source: Dawn