ISLAMABAD ( BMZ REPORT )
Minister of State for IT Ms. Anusha Rahman chaired a meeting on demonstration of Electronic Voting Machines. The meeting was attended by members of Sub-Committee of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms including Mr. Syed Naveed Qamar, Ms. Naeema Kishwar Khan and Dr. Arif Alvi. Officials from Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), NADRA and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) were also present at the meeting.
Earlier Ministry of IT on request of the sub-committee, held demonstrations and evaluated the EVM solutions of 17 vendors recommended by ECP from 26th to 28th October 2015. Evaluations were done on the basis of requirements provided by ECP. The companies who fulfilled the requirements performed live demonstrations before the afore said meeting. After witnessing the demonstration, the members of the sub-committee expressed confidence that it was possible to implement electronic balloting in Pakistan. They appreciated the efforts of the Ministry of IT and especially the Minister of State for their efforts in this regard.
During the meeting various matters related to electronic voting were discussed at length including biometric verification solutions. It was noted by the meeting that expeditious finalization of specs by the ECP was necessary to make progress in the development an electronic solution for balloting.
It was unanimously agreed that transparency, reliability and efficiency should be the foremost feature of EVMs.