head of the general elections in 2023, the electronic voting system seems far away, amid deep political polarisation and growing intolerance as rival parties reject each other’s electoral reform agenda.

Electronic voting machines (EVM) formally became a subject of political discussions during the previous regime led by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf. However, major opposition parties – now in power – opposed the proposal.

In 2021, the PTI government, in a joint sitting of parliament, passed a bill to pave the way for holding the next general elections in the country using the EVM. Confident of its popularity among overseas Pakistanis, it also made efforts to give the right to vote to at least nine million overseas Pakistanis in the 2023 polls.

The bills were part of a reform agenda – The Election (Amendment) Bill, 2021 – but were passed, while deferring other items on the reform agenda. The then opposition parties considered holding the next elections using EVM, a part of PTI’s plan to rig the elections.

After coming into power, the present regime in May last year passed the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022 – removing the use of EVMs and disallowing overseas Pakistanis from voting in the next general polls.

The government stated that it was not against the use of technology but had concerns about its ‘misuse’.

A few days ago, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar ruled out the possibility of EVM use in the forthcoming elections.

Section 103 of the Elections Act 2017, however, provides that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) may conduct pilot projects for the utilisation of EVMs and biometric verification systems in by-elections in addition to the existing manual procedures for voter verification, casting and counting of votes to assess the technical efficacy, secrecy, security and financial feasibility of the EVMs and biometric verification system.

However, the ECP has been reluctant to adopt this system on a large scale – even in local government elections. It used EVM as a pilot project in some by-polls at national and provincial levels in 2017 and 2018. Later, in an audit report it declared the internet voting system flawed and insecure.

The ECP has been reluctant to adopt this system at a large scale – even in local government elections. It used EVM as a pilot project in some by-polls at national and provincial levels in 2017 and 2018. Later, an audit report declared the internet voting system flawed and insecure.

Recently, the ECP refused to adopt i-voting and electronic voting machines in the Punjab local government elections saying that amendments are needed in the Local Government Act to avoid the contradictions in the rules.

Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), a major rights group working on electoral reforms, has been urging the government to fulfil the prerequisites for the introduction of EVMs before installing such a system. It has also suggested a referendum on the introduction of EVM and a proportional representation system asserting that “it should not be introduced without a more extended public and political discourse.”

“EVM plans are not practicable and affordable in a country like Pakistan,” says Ahmed Bilal Mehboob of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT). “Online voting for overseas Pakistanis may work in the future, but I don’t see EVM having a future in Pakistani elections in coming years at least… the ECP in its pilot projects also found the system flawed.”

Mehboob says although technology is developing daily, some developed countries have adopted i-voting and later stopped using it. These included Holland and Germany. He says in Germany the EVM was not recognised as a transparent system. “This EVM has gotten political hype,” he says the main issue in Pakistan is an accusation of centralised rigging, which is easier through an electronic system.

He also says that EVM is a very expensive project, and a country like Pakistan cannot afford it. “It took 22 years for India to adopt the EVM system, but India has more money to spare. EVM would bring more chaos in Pakistani politics and would provide new opportunities for centralised rigging and a plethora of new political accusations,” he feared.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC), a few days back, issued notices to the secretary Ministry of Housing and Work in a petition seeking the appointment of a commission for inquiry into investigations of rigging through hacking in the electronic voting system in a local electoral dispute.

There has been a report and the observation by the company that was involved in the online voting that there was a hacking attack on the voting system, so that the transparency of the elections cannot be guaranteed. The elections has not been conducted in a transparent manner, the petitioner argued.

The writer can be reached at vaqargillani@gmail.com. He tweets at @waqargillani