Election Commission of Pakistan defiant against use of Electronic Voting Machines
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ISLAMABAD - The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday sought explanation from the Ministry of Science and Technology over the recent statement of the Secretary Ministry of Science and Technology over Electronic Voting Machine (EVM).
The secretary science and technology in a meeting of the standing committee of Senate said that ECP was yet to give briefing over the specifications of EVM. The secretary remarked that the ministry would design the EVM after briefing of the ECP.
However, the ECP taking notice of the statement of the secretary science and technology, sough explanation from the concerned authority.
The commission in its letter to the ministry said that ECP already had informed the ministry regarding the specifications of EVMs; saying that the commission had done task related to the EVM and now ECP was waiting for briefing about the EVM by the ministry of science and technology.
It must be noted that the ECP under the chairmanship of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Raja Sikandar Sultan on June 1 and 2 held two consecutive meetings for getting a detailed briefing on the prototype EVMs from the officials of the ministry of science and technology. However, the officials of the ministry failed to brief ECP and sought some more time.
Instead of briefing the ECP, the ministry informed the commission that they needed some more time to complete all relevant work on the EVM. About the time frame, the ministry said that the work on EVM to be finalised in the third week of July this year.
Meanwhile, the ECP told the ministry that it appreciated its help, but it would also take relevant stakeholders on board before it transitions towards electronic voting as per its constitutional responsibility.
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