Insaf Ali Bangwar
Bringing diaphanous conclusion of general elections has always been a diaphoretic task for any successive government of the country. The foremost pillar of any democratic country is transparency, nevertheless, the country we live in has never had a transparent and controversial-free election throughout its history. The world had been trying its best to bring a technique and a method that could provide a crystalline conclusion sans any complaints and controversies. Since the post-colonial era, the endeavours to transfer general elections or the method of making elections in a democratic country are taking place with the assistance of technology for having the outcomes based on translucency. Thus, the world had seen many innovations and stuck with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Although in the developed and first-world countries, the use of Electrical Voting Machines is common but for all democratic states, it is a distant dream or such countries sans the use of Electronic Voting Machines do not rely on machines over manual methods. Viewing India’s method of taking general elections, Pakistan is somehow doing trials to take the forthcoming general elections via Electronic Voting Machines but after a long time since India took a trial of Electronic Voting Machines in 1998 and officially announced to take the general elections in 2004. The ruling party is before for implementing the idea of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) since Pakistan Tahreek I Insaf (PTI) is beyond with a pace and had several legislations in a few periods including an Election Amendment Bill in a joint sitting of the Parliament on November 17, 2021. The amendment to Election Act 2017 warrants the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) for the forthcoming general elections scheduled in 2023 and the right to vote for overseas Pakistanis. Following the implementation of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) the storming turmoil came into being in the political landscape instead of being a move to unanimous assent and acknowledgement. Pakistan Tahreek i Insaf (PTI) is single-minded for the implementation of Electronic Voting Machines since having some aims to be attained, that are, firstly, the credit will go to the ruling party for the technological reform and secondly the ruling party will see an enhancement of getting votes owing to being a prioritized party, however, the opposition has no sympathy for the EVMs since they doubt the impartially of the EVMs. No one would deny that in all provinces of the country, the power of tribal and feudal influence would never let the Electronic Voting Machines attain the transparent and open-and-shut results that are desired. The opponent invests millions in elections since elections in the country are a lucrative business of millions, the investment gets back along with power and position dividends both in the terms of influence and asset. In most of the regions of Sindh, Balochistan, and Punjab, the votes are getting sold in some thousands to the ‘influential people’ owing to limited literacy and skills and dwindled value of the vote. Will Electronic Voting Machines be able to erase these sorts of happenings in the general elections? Will the EVMs bring revolution in the world of the election and cut out the system of getting votes by hefty sums? Is it an antidote to the tribal and feudal influence — as they silently get votes from formers and blind followers — and sustain the rule of democracy? Pakistan’s democracy is in a malaise state since it possesses irregularities systemically and structurally, encompassing poverty, illiteracy, inequality and the list goes on. Concludingly, it lacks methods for taking elections.
