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fawad chaudhry says next LG elections in punjab and islamabad will be held with EVMs

He said the government will provide funds to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for purchase of electronic voting machines. He was briefing the media after cabinet meeting held in Islamabad on Jan 4, 2022.

ISLAMABAD: Fawad Chaudhry, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting said the federal cabinet had approved the release of funds for procurement of electronic voting machines (EVMs) ahead of local government elections in Punjab and Islamabad.

He said the government will provide funds to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for purchase of electronic voting machines. He was briefing the media after cabinet meeting held in Islamabad on Jan 4, 2022.

Minister said, “Cabinet today approved the purchase of 4000 voting machines in connection with upcoming local government elections in Islamabad.” He said the EVMs would also be procured for LG polls in Punjab.

e further said that ECP had asked the Ministry of Science and Technology to provide electronic voting machines and the government was fully ready to release funds in this regard.

Speaking on rising Omicron cases in the country, Fawad said that NCOC head Asad Umar and Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood briefed the federal cabinet on current Covid-19 situation in the country.

“Omicron cases are increasing in the country,” said Chaudhry with an appeal to people to strictly follow the Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) to avoid the further spread of the Omicron Covid variant.

He maintained that the federal government had spent Rs2 billion for Covid-19 vaccines procurement. He also criticized Sindh government for scoring points on Covid vaccination programme.

“Sindh failed to purchase a single Covid-19 vaccine,” he said and added that they [Sindh govt] criticised the crucial issue of public health for political point scoring.

Information Minister also said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has submitted all records of funding before the scrutiny committee of ECP.

“Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is the only political party which has an elaborate system of funding and accounting,” he said and demanded that the scrutiny committees should immediately submit their reports regarding PML (N) and the PPP to Election Commission.

He also urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to probe and make public the funding sources of other political organisations.

Talking about the Health Card programme, which was recently launched in Punjab after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the information minister was of the view that the government will spend Rs400bn on the health card scheme in Punjab. He said the initiative is being launched gradually in Punjab.

“The entire population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had already been provided health care facility,” said Fawad and added that family members registered with NADRA can get treatment up to Rs1 million from all government and designated private hospitals.

Information Minister also urged the Sindh government to launch ‘Sehat Sahulat Programme’ for the people of the province.

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I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.

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