National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) is reported to have devised an electronic voting software which will enable 4.5 million Pakistanis abroad to cast votes in the general elections, the authority's Chairman Tariq Malik said at a press conference on Sunday.
He said that the Election Commission of Pakistan and political parties would be taken on board on the new software developed by Nadra. Tariq Malik said that the Supreme Court would also been briefed on Monday about the electronic voting mechanism.
On March 28, the apex court had directed the Secretaries of the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Law, Overseas Pakistanis, IT and Chairpersons of NADRA and the Election Commission Pakistan to devise a strong mechanism, allowing voting for overseas Pakistanis.
On that occasion, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had remarked that the Chairman of Nadra should quit his job if he failed to develop such a mechanism. Nadra, Malik claimed, had helped the ECP in devising a system for the scrutiny of the electoral candidates that would filter out tax defaulters and holders of dual nationalities. He said that more than 20 million people had verified the registration of their votes via Nadra. The authority, he said, had also helped the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to computerise the record of educational qualifications.