ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided to use electronic voting machines (EVMs) during the local bodies elections on an experimental basis to ascertain their feasibility.
Several media outlets, while quoting sources, reported that the expansion and prospects of elections being held through the electronic voting machines will be decided in the light of the results produced by the pilot projects.
The electoral watchdog penned down a letter to the Ministry of Science and Technology regarding the pilot project and asked for the provision of over 70 EVMs to carry out the experiment.
The commission now awaits a response from the ministry. The ECP would then proceed to select the province for the pilot project on the basis of the availability of the machines, the sources added.
The Election Commission of Pakistan had last month written to the government for the release of funds and asked for at least 8,00,000 EVMs to be mass-produced for the upcoming general elections. The letter also asked for a warehouse to keep the 8,00,000 EVMs in a secure place.
The Election Commission of Pakistan on November 23 formed three committees to calculate the expenditure of electronic voting machines and amend the existing rules and regulations for using them in line with a law enacted by a joint sitting of parliament.
‘LG polls can’t be held with EVMs’
Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz asserted that electronic voting machines (EVMs) were not designed for the type of local government elections in Pakistan.
Talking to a local daily, Faraz said that except for nazims, local government elections cannot be held with EVMs. He explained that the EVMs could be used only for direct elections of nazims of tehsils and districts for which there is only one panel of contestants.
Faraz said that in our local government elections there are multiple panels for different types of seats. The EVMs are not designed to deal with such elections, he added.
