Ordinance promulgated for voting rights of expatriates

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Saturday promulgated an ordinance to grant voting rights to overseas Pakistanis and allow the use of electronic voting machines in the general elections.

Through Second Election (Amendment) Ordinance, the President amended the sections 94 (1) and 103 of the Election Act 2017. “The Commission shall with technical assistance of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) or any other Authority and Agency shall enable overseas Pakistanis to exercise their right to vote during general elections in their country of residence,” says the amended section 94 (1) of the Election Act.

According to the amended section 103, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would be responsible for the procurement of the electronic voting machines for use in general elections. Earlier, the law had allowed extending voting right, use of electronic voting and biometric verification machine as pilot project in bye-election which would now be used for general elections too.