ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that it is not yet clear whether Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used in the next elections or not.
The statement comes a day after a joint session of Parliament approved the use of EVMs for the next elections.
On Thursday, a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice, under the Chairman Riaz Fatyana, was held on the issues of EVMs.
The ECP secretary briefed the NA panel and said that it was too early to say whether EVMs will be used in the next elections. “There are challenges in using the electronic voting machine. It has to go through 14 stages [of trials] before being used in elections,” he said.
He said the ECP will have to run three to four pilot projects before using EVMs for the general election.
The secretary said they still needed to “figure out” the number of machines required at each polling station.
Federal Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz on Wednesday told that a total of 600,000 machines were required to hold general elections.
At the joint session of Parliament, the first bill passed by 221 to 203
votes allowed the use of EVMs in the next general elections.
The joint session passed two electoral reform bills that would allow the use of EVMs in general elections and enable Pakistanis living abroad to vote using the I-voting system.
The ECP, in the past, has opposed the use of EVMs and submitted several objections.
Meanwhile, oppositions parties have rejected EVMs saying it would allow the ruling PTI to manipulate the 2023 elections.
PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif said that opposition would challenge the legislation in the Supreme Court. PPP’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that government had failed to show its numbers at the joint session and the bills had not been rightfully enacted into laws.
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