ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said that the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in elections is a non-starter in Pakistani context.
“Numerous studies carried out have shown that it is susceptible to manipulation and liable to be used for electoral fraud."
This was stated by Secretary General of Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians ex-Senator Farhatullah Babar in a statement on Saturday. He said that the computer-based system of voting requires computer literacy that is also lacking in Pakistan.
He said that even in some of those countries, which initially adopted it in some constituencies have discontinued. He said that in a country where state agencies switch on and off internet and social media platforms with impunity on the pretext of "national security" it is not easy to trust EVMs.
The fear of electoral manipulation will increase, not decrease, he said. Farhatullah Babar said that when he was CEC, late Fakhruddin G Ebrahim tinkered with the idea and even prepared to undertake a pilot project but had to back off when the security flaws inherent in the EVMs in our context convinced him that it was not workable.
The slogan “We do not trust voting Computers” that reportedly was first adopted in The Netherlands in 2006 is likely to become a rallying point here also. He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan is stuck in a dead-end street and is making offers of talks to the opposition on non issues.
He said that history of the past over 30 months of his style of governance shows that talks and negotiations are alien to his temperament. He said that the prime minister’s "narcissism" and "self righteous" approach has been the greatest stumbling block to negotiation and continues to be so.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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