Islamabad: The Pakistan’s National Assembly on Thursday abolished the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in general elections through the passage of Elections (Amendment) Bill 2022.
The NA has passed the bill, which seeks to remove the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in general elections as well as disallows overseas Pakistanis from voting, according to Dawn.
The bill was introduced in the Assembly by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Murtaza Javed Abbasi.
During the NA session, Federal Minister of Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar said that holding polls using EVMs in a single day is ‘impossible’, Geo Reported.
On November 17 last year, the NA had removed the legislation for use of EVMs through passage of a bill, giving overseas Pakistanis the right to vote in general elections through a voting device introduced by the PTI government.
The law minister said they are not against the use of technology, but they have concerns about misuse of technology as the Results Transmission System had failed in the 2018 elections to favour a particular political party, Geo News reported.
He said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had also expressed its inability to hold elections through I-Voting and EVMs in a short span of time and without proper homework, it said.
The bill is expected to be presented to the Senate on Friday.
