ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz has said that electronic voting machines (EVMs) are not designed for the type of local government elections we have in Pakistan.
Shibli Faraz in an interview 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 said.
The minister said that he will personally speak to Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, who recently decided to hold local government elections in the provinces using EVM technology.
Read more: President Alvi signs Elections Reforms Bill for use of EVMs in polls
Earlier, Minister for Science and Technology Senator Shibli Faraz said the legislation was a historic achievement as in the past, the controversies on the fairness of elections begot political and economic instability besides confrontation in the parliament.
He said following the 90-day deadline by the prime minister, the ministry got the prototype of EVM manufactured through NUST and experimented with it at multiple forums like universities, chambers, and before media.
