Shibli Faraz asks ECP to keep its promise of using EVM in LG polls

Federal Science and Technology Minister Shibli Faraz has asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to fulfill its promise of using the electronic voting machine (EVM) in the local government (LG) elections in Punjab and Islamabad, Bol News reported.

While talking to the media on Wednesday, the minister said the electoral body can procure EVMs from any source if it doesn’t want to get them from a private firm. He said ECP should keep its word of organising the LG elections in Punjab and federal capital through EVM.

“The ministry did its job timely and developed the machines as per the demand of the electoral body,” Faraz said and added that functionality of the voting machine was demonstrated in the Parliament, provincial assemblies, and across the country.

Read more: People turning to cryptocurrency without proper planning, says Shibli Faraz

He clarified that the incumbent government doesn’t want to introduce any specific machine. “It is the constitutional and legal right of the ECP to choose the machine it likes and the government will issue a global tender for the chosen device,” the minister said.

Read more: ‘Science, Technology & Innovation policy to create economic activities in Pakistan’

Faraz said that the law has been enacted that elections in 2023 will be conducted through EVMs while adding that the affairs should progress on daily basis.