Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz said on Wednesday that electronic voting machines (EVMs) couldn’t be hacked and were the simplest solution to problems of rigging during polls.
Addressing a media briefing at Parliament House in Islamabad, where the govt had scheduled an indication of EVMs for lawmakers, the science minister assured everyone that the machines “couldn’t be hacked or riddled with bugs” since they weren’t connected to the web, hooked into mechanisms like Bluetooth, WiFi or an OS.
He hailed EVMs because of the solution to rigging during and after elections. Through electronic voting, Faraz added, elections would be transparent and their results immediate and trustable.
The science minister called upon lawmakers to return and test out the EVM on display to satisfy themselves.
He said it had been up to the committee of Pakistan (ECP) to make a decision whether the machines fulfilled the wants, adding that the ECP was the sole constitutional institution that would approve or reject them.
“We are coordinating with the ECP. Before or immediately after Muharram [we will demonstrate EVMs to the ECP], obviously, it is the biggest stakeholder,” he said.
He added that the govt had tried to include all the wants of the ECP into the EVMs.
Responding to a variety of questions on how EVMs functioned, Faraz said repeated votes weren’t possible, adding that EVMs weren’t connected with the National Database and Registration Authority.
He emphasized that voters would still be unidentifiable which votes wouldn’t be verified through thumb impressions but voter lists instead.
“The machine will only decide the method of entering the vote,” he explained.
Faraz said three per cent of votes or a complete of 1.8 million votes were wasted from everywhere the country during general elections and margins of victory often decreased to at least one or two votes. EVMs would eliminate this waste, he said.
Meanwhile, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser took to Twitter after testing the EVM out for himself, saying that technological advancements were “pivotal” to make sure transparency within the electoral process and strengthen democracy.
Last week, Prime Minister Imran Khan himself received an in depth presentation and an indication of a replacement locally made EVM.
Talking to Dawn after the briefing held at the Prime Minister House, Faraz had said that the machine had been developed keeping in mind ground realities and in accordance with the specifications of the ECP, which had previously rejected the utilization of EVMs on technical grounds.
According to the minister, the new EVM was simple and user-friendly for voters also because the polling staff and it might eliminate chances of rigging because it couldn’t be bugged or hacked because it would haven’t any OS and wouldn’t be connected to the web .
The ruling PTI has been pursuing the difficulty of the utilization of EVMs since the 2013 general elections. A prototype had first been shown off at Parliament House in May.
Earlier in May, the prime minister had invited the opposition to take a seat down with the govt and participate in bringing electoral reforms like the utilization of EVMs so as to revive the credibility of local polls.
In a series of tweets, the premier had said that after the NA-249 Karachi by-poll, all parties were “crying foul and claiming rigging”.
“Technology and therefore the use of EVMs is that the only answer to reclaim the credibility of elections. I invite the opposition to take a seat with us and choose from EVM models we’ve available to revive the credibility of our elections,” he had tweeted.
