The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) requested additional funding from the government to carry out the I-voting (voting for overseas Pakistanis) and electronic voting machine (EVM) pilot project.
On Wednesday, according to media reports, the extra money will go toward staff training, project piloting, and more thorough testing of EVM and I-voting mechanisms.
A high-level meeting led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja resulted in the decision.
CEC Sikander Sultan Raja presided over a high-level meeting where the decision was made.
The monitoring group for elections also expressed satisfaction with the advancements made by the project management team it set up for the purpose.
The CEC said, “Keeping the elections and voting process transparent is the fundamental responsibility of the electoral body.”
He emphasized the significance of implementing innovative techniques while simultaneously highlighting the necessity of protecting the vote’s confidentiality.
The lower and upper houses of the parliament had earlier overturned the law that permitted the use of EVMs and called for legalizing tandem voting for Pakistanis living abroad by approving the Election Amendment Bill 2022.
President Arif Alvi, however, declined to sign the measure, returning it unsigned on June 4.
The law was promptly passed through the legislature on June 9 at a joint session of the Parliament.
