ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan was given a briefing on a locally made electronic voting machine (EVM) on Wednesday.

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry displayed the EVM at the briefing and claimed that the machine was manufactured by his ministry in collaboration with the COMSATS and the National Institute of Electronics.

According to a press release issued by the Prime Minister Office (PMO), the meeting was told that several tests of the EVM had been conducted and the results were encouraging.

Mr Fawad informed the prime minister that the machine would help conduct fair, free and transparent elections in the country.

Prime Minister Khan lauded the efforts of the ministry of science and technology and allied organisations for manufacturing the EVM.

“It is unfortunate that questions were raised over all elections held in the past in the country, which has not only harmed the election process but also shattered the confidence of the people. Now the country cannot afford any such faulty election system,” he said.

He directed the ministry of science and technology to further equip the EVM with latest technology and fool proof security features.

However, a senior official of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), who requested anonymity, claimed that the machine was nine years old and “unreliable”.

“[Contrary to this] The ECP has a latest EVM, has conducted its pilot testing and submitted its report to the parliament but no decision has been taken on it,” he told Dawn.

He claimed that the ECP machines were not laboratory products rather they were ISO standard factory products. “ECP’s machine has more features than that of MoST’s,” he added.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2021