Alvi for better coordination to address misconceptions on i-Voting

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday called for better coordination among all the stakeholders for addressing any misconceptions about i-Voting so that nine million overseas Pakistanis could get their voting rights.

Chairing a meeting of the Sub-committee on Emerging Technologies in i-Voting, the president emphasised that the vote was a fundamental right of every citizen, and they should not be deprived of it due to the system’s weaknesses. The meeting was attended by Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Amin-ul-Haq, Minister for Railways Azam Khan Swati, Secretary IT&T Dr Muhammad Sohail Rajput, acting Chairman of National Database Registration Authority Brig Khalif Latif (retd), DG (IT) ECP Khizer Aziz, and other government officials.

President Alvi underlined the need for improving the existing electoral laws to enable about nine million overseas Pakistanis to exercise their right to vote in line with the directions of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

He also called for addressing the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) reservations regarding the amendments in electoral laws, which would take final decision about implementation of the electoral processes.

The president said the government organizations would facilitate the ECP in executing the reform process in a transparent manner.

Referring to the Elections Act, 2017, Azam Khan Swati informed the meeting that 49 amendments were incorporated in the act with the consent of ECP and now the relevant organizations should also support the ongoing reforms to ensure transparency and credibility of the electoral process.