Former Secretary-General of Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) Sarwar Bari on Saturday said the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) would help ensure transparency in the polls to great extent and end the involvement of Polling Officers (POs) by 99 per cent.
“About 99 percent involvement of POs in the election process after the introduction of EVMs will come to an end and the chances of rigging will be eliminated to great extent as compared to the old election process,” he said while talking to a private television channel. He said the EVMs would minimize the role of humans in the election process as now “it will be done through the machines.”
He said the use of EVMs was a part of the strategic plan 2019-23 of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) but no development had been made in that regard.
He said it was a commitment of the ECP to use EVMs, start a biometric system and give the right of vote to overseas Pakistanis through internet-voting. “As per the plan, it was agreed by the ECP that EVMs will be utilized again and again as a pilot project but it was unfortunate that the exercise was the ECP done it once only,” he regretted.
