President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday said that use of latest technology and inclusion of electronic voting machines (EVM) was paramount to ensure transparency and free and fair elections. Addressing the “National seminar on Free and Fair Elections” at 90 Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam, he said that use of latest technology could help in ending the objections, raised by the various sectors on electoral process, adding that with the inclusion of EVMs, the voters could easily cast their votes by just pressing a single button. Dr Arif Alvi said that utilization of modern technology was mandatory for uplift of any society as societies which did not adopt the changing trends or technology, became victim of destruction. About 3.5 million members of my former party had casted votes through their cell phones in favor of their candidate, he said and added that not only a single objection was raised regarding these party elections. There was no training of the staff required to include EVMs as these EVMs worked in the same manners, the printers performed and were also not connected to the internet, he maintained. Some segments of the society started criticizing the EVMs without even getting proper information about its working and functions, he added. The President shared his experience of working as a member of Electoral Reforms Committee and said that electoral voting lists made on basis of demographic information including residential addresses and others of the voters should be dealt by the National Database Regulatory Authority (NADRA) as the NADRA had mega data center of population and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) could face shortage of staff and a number of other challenges in compiling the data but a constitutional amendment was needed in this regard, he added. Dr Arif Alvi said that population discrepancies of more than 10 percent were not acceptable in any constituency but with some exceptions which should be mentioned by the ECP, adding that the professionals and other experts could also be appointed in the ECP for scrutinizing, evaluating and compiling of voters’ lists to make electoral process transparent. The President also stressed the need for consultative process to resolve the existing conflicts and end polarization which could cause severe damage to democracy and eventually the country, and said that no political party should make decisions based on sentiments or emotions. Pakistani nation, with firm commitment had defeated terrorism, overcome the Covid 19 pandemic, provided shelter to more than four million refugees, accomplished the atomic programme in short time span of eight years and a number of other challenges so nothing can stop us in becoming a great nation, Dr Arif Alvi concluded.
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