The EVM tussle

The government, the ECP and the political opposition have become locked in an unfortunate conflict over the use of Electronic Voting Machines for the next general elections. The government is adamant that the machines can be produced and will offer a clear result, free from accusations of rigging and other kinds of fraud. The ECP has taken a strong stance on this matter with over three dozen objections against it. The report that the ECP has submitted to the Senate of Pakistan’s standing committee on parliamentary affairs clearly highlights that the EVM cannot stop rigging and the secrecy of ballot papers is not likely to be upheld. There is also a strong chance, according to the ECP, of inordinate delays in results’ announcements. The report also points out that polling staff members are not sufficiently conversant with the new technology and voters’ familiarity with the process is also a matter of concern. Before introducing such new machines for voting, the public level of understanding will play a significant role, therefore the use of the proposed EVMs in the next elections is not recommended by the ECP. If the new machine is not user-friendly as highlighted by the ECP, it is not likely to stop voting fraud.

The election exercise in Pakistan is one of the biggest in the world as Pakistan is now the fifth largest country in terms of population. With nearly 150 million registered voters for the next elections, the EVM will need fairly large-scale deployments. When the elections are less than two years away, the deployment of such controversial EVMs will result in a rush and it will be extremely hard to meet international standards in the implementation of fair and free procedures. Another problem the ECP has rightly underscored is the introduction of changed ballot papers that happens sometimes pretty late in the electoral process. Often the courts order just before the elections that in a certain constituency a new ballot paper be used. In such cases, the EVM will not be able to accept any fresh data into its software.

While EVMs are in use in India, the US and other countries, they were rejected by nations including Holland and Germany, as well as Ireland and Italy. The model put forward by the government is simply one sample and the ECP is correct in saying that they should be tendering for other models and other examples so it can make the choice before dishing out a large amount of money for the machines. Perhaps most significant of all is the fact that election fraud in our country is most often a matter of controversy regarding events that occur either before polling begins, or when the process of counting takes place with frequent allegations made that the polling agents of various parties are forced out of the room at this time. The EVMs will not solve this problem. It is also vital, given how important a general election is to our democratic system, that all major parties agree to the system being used, and to the introduction of EVMs. At the moment, no major party has accepted their use. People have to be initiated into the new method of voting gradually and at a pace which they can understand and absorb. This would mean, as has happened in other countries, introducing machines at one level of voting, for example, in local polls, or in a set number of constituencies or districts, rather than simply putting them in place across the country and moving ahead for the general election based on a machine that has not been tested in out in the field, and in the difficult conditions which exist in our country. It would not be sensible to create any controversy over the upcoming elections, and far better to wait until some consensus can be reached regarding the EVMs.