It is very unfortunate that the Punjab government intentionally creates problems for the Federal Government in matters of national interests.  It comes up with novel practices and uncalled for stunts to create a dilly dally situation in serious matters including the Local Bodies polls which have already been delayed in the province. 

Now the Punjab government has come up with new stunt saying it will conduct the polls through EVMs, which are already a subject of debate and contention among political circles. The decision has also irked the Election Commission of Pakistan which has termed it as a delaying tactic by the provincial government.

The irony is that while the central government is use of EVMs in elections, the Punjab Government is heading in the opposite direction and has also got the bills regarding use of EVMS in polls passed from the Punjab Assembly and the said bills is going to become law after one week. In fact, the Punjab government has done so to sabotage  the polls  process and cause undue delay.

IT may be mentioned her that the EVMs Bill was passed by the previos PTI Government in November in haste at the central level as well but the current coalition government has amended that law through the Electoral reforms whih have become law without president's assent because  when the "Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022"  which was sent to President Alvi for approval after passage from both houses, was rejected by him and sent back to the NA. An impression was given to the overseas Pakistanis that the bill was aimed at depriving them of their voting rights.

However, that is a total lie as no country can even think of taking away voting rights from Overseas Pakistanis, who are our assets as they contribute enormously to the national exchequer through sending millions of dollars in remittances back home every year, helping the country's foreign reserves to maintain to a greater extent. Another impression created by the Opposition PTI was that the government was against the use of technology i.e., EVMs in elections for what they call a transparent procedures. Again their allegations do not hold water as the coalition government is very much in favor of use of technology in electoral process, it only wants to ensure that the removal of various drawbacks that are inherent in the EVMs policy adopted by the previous government as without removing the flaws, the EVMs are tantamount to rigging polls.

It may be recalled here that in November last when the then government of PM Khan got the EVMs bill passed in a haste, having no regard for the opinion of the then Opposition parties or the members of the both houses i.e., National Assembly and the Senate, when the then treasury benches violating the democratic norms out-rightly bulldozed the proceedings and got it passed through its "artificial majority" in the connivance of the then Speaker The mainstream parties had  rightly termed it as a ploy by then then PTI government to rig the 2023 elections and influence upon the final results.

And after coming into power, the current coalition government in  a bid to set things right, passed from the National Assembly the "Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022" demanding completing the pilot projects regarding removing the flaws  in by-elections before  making the use of  I-Voting and electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the upcoming polls and this bill has now become a law.

But Punjab Government has passed its own bill in the PA regarding the use of EVMs and the bill is also giving to become a law within ten days. The mainstream political parties except the PTI, have a galore of concerns as they are fearing the misuse of technology under the EVMs. They say that in the 2018 elections, the Results Transmission System (RTS) had failed, due the results tilted in favour the PTI.

As a matter of fact, since November last, the controversy regarding the EVMs has never died down with every day new concerns being pouring on from the stakeholders, who have been pointing out a series of flaws with this system that cannot be overlooked or ruled out rightly. Last year, when the EVMs act passed through ordinance, there was a lot of outcry from not only the then Opposition parties but even the ECP was concerned. The main concerns were the fears of the stakeholders that the EVMs are not given a fair trial and hence are not tamper-proof and the software in these machines can be easily tampered and the results can be altered accordingly.

The Election Commission put a great resistance of the government move but eventually had to give up as the government imposed it through ordinance. The  Election Commission had submitted a paper before the Senate Standing committee which contained  over three dozen objections against the use of EVMs. Meanwhile, the financial experts are also vehemently criticize the  use of EVMs as the cost of this system run into billions which is not possible for the government in these testing times when the country is faced with extreme economic challenges and is reeling under the effects of corona pandemic and rising prices of foods and oils in the international markets. Secondly the staff to be required for these machines will also require training, which is long and strenuous procedure.

 And most importantly, the financial cost of training the staff will run into billions while it will also require a lot of time to train the staff while the elections are not far off. In fact, it will require a lot of finances and home work by the government successfully carry out this large-scale procurement, introduction and arrangement of EVMs as well as training of the concerned staff.

In fact, the cost of elections can be more than twice under the EVMs as compared to the system which is in practice for decades and which has won the trust of majority of the mainstream political parties. To be very specific, arranging and procuring Electronic balloting for an estimated over 133 million domestic voters and a whopping 10 million overseas Pakistanis will need enormous finances. While  100,000 polling stations will be needed at home, with  at least four polling booths per every polling station in the country, and the EVMS required for these polling station will be four lakh 400,000. So arranging for so many machines and proving finances for them is an issue in itself.  

In this backdrop, the formation of new law regarding the electoral reform by the current coalition government is a wise move and  is being welcome but the Punjab Government did not agree with this law and has come up with its own law on the subject. 

Published in The Daily National Courier, October, 27 2022

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