By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: President Dr. Arif Alvi on Thursday asked the Ministry of Science of Technology and other concerned organizations to expedite the process of developing Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with advanced security features to ensure transparency in electoral process.
He underscored the need for introducing e-voting system in the country which, he said, would not only facilitate overseas Pakistanis but would also improve the efficiency and various other aspects of electoral process. The president made these remarks while chairing a meeting of sub-committee on Emerging Technologies on e-voting, here at Aiwan-e-Sadr.
Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication (IT&T) Syed Amin ul Haque, Minister for Railways Senator Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, Minister for Science and Technology (S&T) Senator Shibli Faraz, Secretary M/o IT&T Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, Acting Chairman NADRA Brig (R) Khalid Latif, Director General IT Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Khizer Aziz, and senior officials of the government attended the meeting.
Federal Minister for Science and Technology Senator Shibli Faraz briefed the meeting about the measures taken by his ministry with regard to manufacturing of EVMs. He informed that COMSATS, National Institute of Engineering (NIE) and National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) were jointly working to produce a prototype of EVM which would be ready shortly.
The President stressed the need that the security of the equipment and various processes involved have to be fool-proof, user-friendly and transparent to ensure credibility of the entire electoral process.
The meeting agreed that NADRA would facilitate e-voting under the umbrella of ECP. It was also agreed to hold meetings on weekly basis to review the progress on e-voting and EVMs. The President appreciated the efforts of M/o Science and Technology for developing a prototype of EVM.
Meanwhile, President Dr Arif Alvi Thursday said that the digitization of the parliament would help improve the performance of the legislature. The president said this in a meeting with Advisor to Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan who briefed him on the parliamentary matters. Awan appreciated the president for taking personal interest in the digitization of the parliament.
