The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has signed an agreement to procure electronic voting machines (EVMs) and biometric verification machines (BVMs) for a trial run in by-elections. ECP Secretary Babar Yaqub Fateh Muhammad said that once these EVMs and BVMs machines are delivered by vendors in 10 weeks, they will be used in multiple pilot projects in upcoming by-elections to see their results. Director General (Admin) retired Brig Abbas Ali and Chief Executive Officer of M/s Smartmatic International Holding signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations to procure 150 EVMs.
The bids for EVMs and BVMs were invited from international vendors last year. Six vendors of EVMs and five vendors of BVMs participated in the bidding process, out of which, three firms qualified for supplying EVMs and two for BVMs.
According to the ECP Secretary, the voters, parliamentarians, lawmakers, civil society organization and the general public will be invited to witness the testing of these technologies. After the trial run in by-elections, the EVMs and BVMs will be employed in the general elections. A committee comprising of experts from different government organizations will be constituted that will check the quality, merits and demerits of new technologies.
Full Article: Pakistan to test electronic voting machines for elections.
