President Stresses Use Of EVMs For Free, Fair Elections

President Dr Arif Alvi said on Friday that the use of the latest technology and inclusion of electronic voting machines (EVMs) was crucial to ensure transparency and free and fair elections

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Aug, 2022 ) :President Dr Arif Alvi said on Friday that the use of the latest technology and inclusion of electronic voting machines (EVMs) was crucial to ensure transparency and free and fair elections.

Addressing the "National Seminar on Free and Fair Elections" at 90 Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam, he said that the latest technology could help end objections, raised by various sectors on the electoral process, adding that with the inclusion of EVMs, voters could easily cast their votes by just pressing a button.

Dr Arif Alvi said that utilisation of modern technology was vital for uplift of any society as the nations which do not adopt the changing trends or technology cannot progress.

"About 3.5 million voters of my former party had cast their votes through their cell-phones in favour of their candidate during the party election," he said and added that not only a single objection was raised regarding those elections. There was no need for any training of the staff for using the EVMs, as these machines worked like printers, and those were not connected to the internet as well, he added. Some segments of society started criticising the EVMs without even getting proper information about its working and functions, he added.

The president shared his experience of working as a member of the Electoral Reforms Committee and said that the electoral voting lists made on the basis of demographic information including residential addresses and others of the voters should be dealt by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).

The Authority had a mega data centre, and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) could face shortage of staff and a number of other challenges in compiling the data. However, the issue could be resolved through a constitutional amendment, he added.

Dr Arif Alvi said that population discrepancies of more than 10 per cent were not acceptable in any constituency. Professionals and other experts might be appointed to the ECP for scrutinising, evaluating and compiling voter lists to make the electoral process transparent.

The president also stressed the need for consultative process to resolve the existing conflicts and end polarization which could cause severe damage to democracy, and said that no political party should make decisions based on sentiments or emotions.

Pakistani nation, with firm commitment, had defeated terrorism, overcome the Covid-19 pandemic, provided shelter to more than four million refugees, accomplished the atomic programme in a short time span of eight years and overcame a number of other challenges. "Therefore, nothing can stop us in becoming a great nation," Dr Arif Alvi concluded.