The government seems to have decided to introduce the Electronic Voting Machines and I-voting for expat Pakistanis in the 2023 general elections. The opposition is deadly against the idea of EVMs. The opposition thinks it’s a move to steal the next general elections while the government advocates the effort as a guarantee of the first rigging free polls in the history of the country. Stakes are high and the two sides are fully cognizant of the fact. This is not just another treasury-opposition controversy as it has the potential to plunge the country in a total deadlock that may, many argue, take the entire political system down with it.
Under the constitution and the Election Act 2017, it is the Election Commission of Pakistan that is primarily responsible for holding a free and fair election in the country. The ECP has stated more than once in the past that it had not been consulted by the government on the final decision to employ the EVMs or during the development stages of the said gizmo. The controversy came to the limelight recently when the ECP raised 37 objections to the introduction of the EVMs and I-voting in the next general elections, in its report submitted to the Senate Standing Committee on parliamentary affairs. The gist of the objections is that the machine can be tampered, its software can easily be altered, time is too short for such huge procurement and deployment of EVMs, the training of staff concerned, and that the machines need to be introduced in stages. Importantly, the ECP stated that the machine cannot guarantee the secrecy of ballot, a constitutional must. The ECP also expressed serious concerns about the custody of machines at rest and during transportation. Interestingly, the government, vociferously dismissing every concern raised by the ECP, is silent on this one. Understandably so. When every institution of the country grows controversial, there is no neutral umpire available who can be tasked with the custody of the EVMs without attracting dispute.
The ECP report then points out perhaps the most valid concern it has about the whole scheme – the stakeholders are not on board. Without the opposition’s support, the whole
plan loses credibility. It has to be kept in mind that the opposition combined, according to the last elections, enjoys the confidence of more voters than the PTI.
Independent observers also express concern over ignoring of the ECP all together by the government in this regard. Former secretary ECP Kunwar Dilshad in this regard states: “In every country that has employed the EVMs, it’s the Election Commission that has fathered the whole concept, including the machines and its features. And it took every country many years, even decades, to fully shift to EVMs.”
Prime Minister Imran Khan has said time and again that EVM is the panacea for all our electoral ills and that the machine can give us our first rigging free, transparent elections. The ECP seems in disagreement. It said in its report that EVMs couldn’t prevent abuse of state resources, misuse of state authority, election fraud, the law and order situation, low voters’ turnout, low women’s turnout, electronic ballot stuffing, vote buying, dishonest polling staff, electoral violence, etc. (the ECP, for obvious reasons, didn’t mention the disaster that RTS, our first romance with technology, proved to be in the last elections.)
In a word, the ECP vetoed the introduction of EVMs and I-voting. It required amendments in the constitution, the ECP said with certainty. The government is convinced that amendments in the acts and rules concerned are enough to implement its decision on EVMs. Things have come to a head. The government has taken on the ECP, considering rolling heads in the Commission. A federal minister was so upset at the ECP’s opposition to EVMs that he thought the Election Commission of Pakistan ‘took bribes to rig polls’ and thus deserved to be burnt.
It is most likely that the political players fail to resolve the issue amicably, and the feud ends up in the courts. Will the decision of the court in this regard, resolve the issue? It seems unlikely. The issue certainly has the potential to hurl the political system in an unprecedented chaos.
