Pakistan’s National Assembly approves bill to debar foreign nationals from voting, stop use of EVMs – Times of India

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Assembly on Thursday passed a bill to end the election reforms of the former Imran Khan government that allowed migrants to vote through i-voting and the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the country. was given.
The Elections (Amendment) Bill 2022, introduced by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Murtaza Javed Abbasi, was passed by a majority in the lower house, opposed only by members of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA).
Before introducing the bill, Abbasi introduced a motion to allow the bill to be sent directly to the Senate for approval, bypassing the relevant standing committee.
According to the report of Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, this bill is expected to be sent to the Senate on Friday.
Describing the bill as “of utmost importance”, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) minister Azam Nazir Tarar recalled that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had made several amendments to the Election Act, 2017, These included allowing the use of EVMs and giving foreign Pakistanis the right to vote in general elections.
Tarar said the PTI government had amended through the Elections (Second Amendment) Bill, 2021, which it repealed through the National Assembly along with 32 other legislations on November 17 last year.
The minister also said that Thursday’s bill sought to revive the Election Act, 2017 in the shape it was before those amendments to ensure free, fair and transparent elections.
Under the new bill, Tarar said, two amendments are being made to sections 94 and 103 of the Act, both relating to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which conducts pilot projects for overseas voting and the use of EVMs. .
He said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had also expressed its inability to conduct elections through i-voting and EVMs in less time and without proper homework.
The amendment under Section 94 of the Election Act, 2017 suggests that the ECP may conduct pilot projects for voting by foreign Pakistanis in by-elections to ascertain the technical efficacy, secrecy, security and financial viability of such voting. Government can and will share the results.
It said that the report would be laid before both the Houses of Parliament within 15 days of the commencement of the session of the House.
According to the Law Minister, the Election Commission of Pakistan had also objected to the use of EVMs.
He, however, clarified that the government was not against the use of technology and it was “impossible” to conduct elections using EVMs on a single day.
“We are only concerned about the misuse of technology as the system of broadcasting results in favor of a particular political party failed in the last general elections,” he said.
He also dispelled the notion that the amendments were intended to deprive foreign Pakistanis of their voting rights.
“Foreign Pakistanis are the precious asset of the country and the government does not believe in taking away their right to vote,” he said.
Meanwhile, PTI strongly criticized the move and termed it as a “regressive and reprehensible act” of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sherif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led government.
PTI vice-president Shah Mehmood Qureshi tweeted: “PTI empowers over nine million expatriate Pakistanis to vote. Today, this band of thieves and thugs took it down, depriving large numbers of Pakistanis and voting electronically. Stopped the use of machines.”
On the other hand, GDA MLA Ghosh Baksh Meher said that EVMs are being used all over the world and Pakistan should at least try to use them. “Use them in some areas, if not the whole country,” he said.
During the National Assembly session, the details of expenditure for the next general election were shared.
According to Electoral Watchdog estimates, about Rs 47.41 billion will be spent in the new elections, of which about Rs 15 billion will be for ensuring security.
The Election Commission had estimated the cost of electronic voting at Rs 5.6 billion, while printing of ballot papers would cost Rs 4.83 billion. Apart from this, Rs 1.79 billion will be spent on training of polling personnel.