Punjab govt decides to hold next local bodies poll through EVMs

LAHORE: The Punjab government on Wednesday decided to hold the next local bodies elections in the province through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), sources informed Bol news.

The provincial government plans to include the mandatory provision of the EVMs in the local bodies act, and in that regards Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has given his go-ahead.

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 the 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, earlier, said the electronic voting machines had given the opposition an electric shock.

Read more: EVM will remove evidence of election theft too: Shahid Khaqan

“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.