ISLAMABAD, June 07 (Online): Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has said general election 2023 will be held through Electronic Voting Machines (EVM).
“ Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan wants to go to such elections which is trusted by all. It is our endeavor that the tradition of polls rigging allegations should come to end. The institutions are on the path to retrogression for want of investment in the country since long period”, he said this while talking to media men here along with ministry of science and technology Shibli Faraz and SAPM Babar Awan Monday.
He went on to say investment has not been made in railway system and other departments since long at the scale it should have been made due to which all the departments are on path of retrogression.
The entire nation has shared the grief of the bereaved families of victims of Ghotki train incident and the result of preliminary inquiry into this incident will be made public, he stated.
He went on to say as soon as the PM received the report of this train incident he directed the railway minister Azam Swati to reach the scene forthwith. As many as 31 passengers have been killed in train incident while over hundreds passengers have been injured. The number of casualties is feared to rise.
ML-1 is the largest project in Railway after 74 years which has been launched by our government, he underlined. This will change the composition and nature of railway.
He informed second meeting was held with election commission. The government delegation comprising Babar Awn and Shibli Faraz discussed 4 matters with the election commission.
49 amendments have been introduced in the bill related to electoral reforms, he pointed out. We want to sit with opposition for legislation on these amendments so that such election should be held which enjoyed the confidence of the people, he added. The second point is electronic voting machine or EVM. The most allegations of rigging are related to the period intervening between conclusion of polling and announcement of results. Therefore, we want electronic voting machine should be used. The election commission is also willing to use technology to ensure electoral transparency .
He pointed out that the matters of biometric verification and E- voting were also discussed with election commission. The report from independent experts on E- voting has been received by Election commission. Commission will work on it as per old procedure.
All the technology is complete for electronic voting machines and all the manufacturers are engaged in manufacturing machines, he stated. A demonstration in this regard will be made in the ongoing week. Commission will appoint its expert.
Dr Babar Awan said ECP had framed rules to give right to vote to overseas Pakistanis. But no law was in place. Therefore, we promulgated electoral reforms ordinance. Under first part of the ordinance polls 2023 will take place under electronic voting machines and under the second part the overseas Pakistanis will be given the right to vote.
