Karachi: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Chairman of Pakistan Peoples’ Party, has said the proposal to use electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the next general election will not work as many areas in Pakistan do not have electricity.
“How are you going to place the electronic voting machine in every polling station when there is no electricity in different constituencies of Pakistan,” asked the PPP Chairman while talking to media persons.
Electoral reforms
The government in May promulgated a presidential ordinance requiring the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to procure EVMs for the next general elections.
The government believes that by promulgating the ordinance, it has given ample time to the ECP to adopt the modern voting mechanism. Prime Minister Imran Khan who invited the Opposition to hold talks with the government on the use of EVMs in the next polls, was recently given a demonstration of an indigenously developed EVM.
The present government aims to introduce the electoral reforms to ensure transparency in the next general elections to be held in 2023 as the use of EVMs and an Internet-based voting system, for overseas Pakistanis, are two main points of the reform package proposed by the government. These reforms have been suggested in the context of the controversy-marred last general elections in 2018 whose results were never accepted by the Opposition political parties. The last general polls, like the previous ones, were held in the country while using the conventional voting system.
One of the major controversies surrounding conduct of the last polls was near-breakdown of the newly devised Result Transmission System (RTS) developed by the ECP for electronic dispatch of result of every polling station for its compilation by the electoral authorities.
Pakistanis in far-flung areas
“How can one believe that voters in the constituencies of far-flung areas of Pakistan like Gwadar, Pishin, Qambar Shahdadkot, Jacobabad, Bajur Agency in the tribal belt would queue up outside the polling stations and cast their votes while using the EVMs?” asked Bilawal Zardari while talking to journalists.
“If our State, Election Commission, parliament, judiciary wants from today that the next general elections becomes controversial then they should go ahead and introduce the concept of EVMs,” he said.
He said that if use of just the RTS was a failure in the last general elections then how come the EVMs could be used in every constituency in the next polls.
He said the EVMs were just a distraction mechanism under an attempt to rig the next general polls in the country.
“No doubt, Pakistan does need electoral reforms but such a process should be carried out collectively with consensus as the Peoples’ Party is ready to take part in it,” said Bilawal.
He said that any change in the electoral process, like introduction of the EVMs, unilaterally announced by the ruling political party through a presidential ordinance was not acceptable to them.
