ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People's Party has strongly rejected the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)and said that simpler technological innovations such as the Result Transmission System (RTS) in the 2018 elections was hijacked and even balloting for plots fail to arouse credibility.
PPPP Secretary General Farhatullah Babar said, while talking to Business Recorder that many countries including Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom (UK), Norway, and others have rejected electronic voting process after its practice.
He claimed, "Defeat of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is a written on the wall. So, it wants to rig the coming general elections in the country by introducing such EVMs."
Answering a question, he said that the PPP would not support the PTI government for legislation in the Parliament to introduce EVMs for voting process in the forthcoming general election.
When simpler technological innovations such as the RTS in the 2018 elections was hijacked and even balloting for plots fails to arouse credibility, who will trust the EVM technology in determining issues in transfer of power to the people, he asked.
He also said in his statement on Saturday, "The Prime Minister's obsession with the Electronic Voting Machines betrays a lack of understanding of the issues at best and a plan for manipulating next elections through technology so as to undo the 18th Constitutional amendment through a selected Parliament at worst."
"EVMs can neither check booths capturing nor put to an end the mysterious midnight phone calls from 'NO Caller ID'," he said.
The PPP leader also said the "EVMs also cannot end summoning winning candidates to offices and asked to change loyalties nor can it stop manipulations to disqualify party leaders from leadership and throw people out from even electoral contests."
He said that about e-voting by expats, he recalled that in 2012 NADRA had explored the proposition and was found that balloting will have to be held in embassies after electronic thumb verification by the embassy officials and concluded that it was problematic.
He said that credible reasons have not been spelt out as to how e-voting by expats without the involvement of Pakistan embassies abroad has become feasible now.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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