ISLAMABAD, Feb 25 (APP): Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Chaudhary Fawad Hussain Thursday stressed for political consensus to utilize electronic machines in upcoming Kashmir elections to ensure transparency.
Talking to a private news channel, Fawad said that the electronic voting machine developed by the National Institute of Electronics can be used on experimental basis which would help getting rid of elections rigging and analyze security situation.
The minister said that ballot paper can also be printed through the machine besides vote casting. Not only electric vote casting can be done through the machine but also ballot paper can be printed.
The minister announced that the work on the electronic voting machine was in the final stages and this machine would be shared with the National Database Registration Authority, National University of Science and Technology and COMSATS soon.
Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Institute of Electronics had done a great job by developing such a machine,” adding the machine has been developed as per directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan to ensure fair and transparent elections.
He explained that E-voting machine would be affordable in Pakistan. He said it would not be connected with Internet to ensure its voting credibility unlike India where the issue of hacking during the elections was reported due to its connectivity with internet.
He said electronic voting would make the election process more efficient and secure, reduce costs, maximize, voter turnout, increase voter confidence in the system, and help reduce fraud and manipulation.
He also said Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will also be further strengthened to enhance its performance, adding, ECP act can play a vital role for handling departments more effectively as compared to caretaker government systems.
