EVM will remove evidence of election theft too: Shahid Khaqan

KARACHI: Veteran Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Thursday said the electronic voting machines (EVM) would remove evidence of stealing of elections too.

“Every matter that has been raised by the government is based on ill-intention,” Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said while addressing media in Karachi.

He said the government was involved in stealing of elections and now it wanted to bring reforms to the polling system. “There are talks of so-called electoral reforms only. The EVM has failed in the world,” he said.

The former prime minister said the election system in the country was not controversial, instead the system of organising elections was.

Criticizing the government, he also asked what was the need to make a law in the first place; an ordinance could have been issued.

At the joint session of the parliament on November 17, the government backed by its allies passed amendments to the Elections Act, 2017, which allows usage of the EVMs and gives right to overseas Pakistanis to cast vote in the general elections using internet service.

Special Assistant to Chief Minister Punjab on Information and Special Initiatives Hasaan Khawar on Thursday said the electronic voting machines had given the opposition an electric shock.

“The EVMs are going to end match-fixing forever,” Hasaan Khawar claimed in a tweet alleging that the use of technology made the Pakistan Muslim League-N and Pakistan Peoples Party nervous for they had always relied on manipulation and match-fixing.

The Punjab government spokesperson said 75 per cent of the democratic countries in the world either used the EVMs nationwide or in parts of the country or had EVM pilots underway.