ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province has decided to make the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) mandatory for the upcoming local government (LG) elections across the province, local media reported on Sunday.
Last month, a joint parliamentary sitting approved the use of EVMs in the next general elections in Pakistan, though opposition factions resisted the move and vowed to challenge it in the country’s top court. Earlier this month, Pakistani President Arif Alvi signed the Election (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that allowed the use of these machines in elections.
Prime Minister Imran Khan and government officials maintain that EVMs will ensure fair elections that have long been desired in Pakistan as every election followed controversies and rigging allegations, which also impacted credibility of respective governments.
LG elections in Punjab are expected to be held in the first quarter of 2022. Usman Buzdar, the chief minister of the province, on Sunday approved amendments to the Local Bodies Act to make the use of EVMs compulsory for voting in the LG polls, English-language daily Express Tribune reported.
“As per the new ordinance, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is bound to include EVMs in the elections,” the report read.
On Saturday, Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar approved the Punjab Local Government Act 2021, paving the way for LG elections on a party basis, according to the report.
In October, the Punjab government restored local bodies on the orders of the Supreme Court after a 25-month long suspension.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led Punjab government had dissolved local bodies, constituted under the Punjab Local Government Act (PLGA) 2013, in May 2019 soon after coming to power.
But the top court annulled the Punjab government’s move to prematurely dissolve the local bodies.