Pakistan seeks to emulate India’s electronic voting system

[MINK]

Pakistan seeks to emulate India’s electronic voting system

Impressed by India’s successful use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in its elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is seeking to emulate the system in the upcoming general elections.

The third meeting of the poll management bodies of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was held at the Indian capital, where “India showcased its use of modern technology for strengthening democracy and election management systems,” a report in Indian daily The Hindu said.

Following a presentation on the use of technology in polls, an ECP member admitted an interest in the Indian mechanism.

“Yes, we would like to follow the best practices followed by India. We are inspired by India’s controls on use of money, power and it will help us increase voter turnouts, as our voter turnout is very low,” Justice (Retired) Muhammad Roshan Essani was quoted as saying by the paper.

Pakistan is set to hold its next general elections next year, and the ECP is expected to complete its electoral rolls by the end of this month.

“For the 83 million voters in Pakistan, the Election Commission of Pakistan has created a computerised data base of voters and we are trying to make use of IT and EVMs in our election system,” Essani added.

Recently, ECP introduced a text-messaging service for the verification of voter details. While some discrepancies were reported in the use of the service, it was hailed as an encouraging step towards increasing transparency in polls.

Meanwhile, the report also quoted ECP spokesman Muhammad Afzal Khan as saying, “With Pakistan, India and Bangladesh having similar cultures, all should help each other…We must learn from each other… We are trying to use EVMs in our elections.”

Pakistan seeks to emulate India

 

[somebozo]

Will that mean the votes cannot be purchased to derail and manipulate the economy? Sadly no...because votes are purchased by providing cash to voters...and this will just become another money waste project.

 

[Rusty]

This is a really good idea, it will stop ballot stuffing.
And even if the parties try to buy votes, they will have no way of knowing if the person just took their money and voted for their own party anyways.

This won't completely stop vote rigging, but it is one more tool to stop it.

 

[third eye]

The EVMs have proved to be rugged and reliable.

Worth emulating.

 

[Capt.Popeye]

This is a really good idea, it will stop ballot stuffing.
And even if the parties try to buy votes, they will have no way of knowing if the person just took their money and voted for their own party anyways.

This won't completely stop vote rigging, but it is one more tool to stop it.

You got it. The parties may still continue to dole out the money, but the voters will happily pocket it and vote for whomsover they want.
Now nobody needs the voter to be even physically present, the parties can just stamp the ballot papers and stuff them in the boxes. With the EVMs, the voter has to turn up to vote.

Now which is the better deal?

 

[Redbull]

So I guess PTI has won the next elections then.

 

[haviZsultan]

We should have had the electronic voting system years ago.

 

[SQ8]

The EVMs have proved to be rugged and reliable.

Worth emulating.

database security will have to be paramount.. along with honest people managing the system.
An EVm is also 1's and 0's..
and any 1's and 0's can be overwritten.

 

[bindaas]

Will that mean the votes cannot be purchased to derail and manipulate the economy? Sadly no...because votes are purchased by providing cash to voters...and this will just become another money waste project.

For free and fair election, Election Commission need to be honest and free from government influence and the benefit of EVM is that it is ideal for the countries having huge population because vote counting is a mammoth task.

 

[JanjaWeed]

This EVM has proved quite flawless & vote rigging complaints in India is almost NIL since these manchines came in to effect.. Every political party in India seems to have trust in this system. However I can't see Pak authorities aproving these machines. Every political parties will have vested interest & vote rigging complaints are a norm in Pakistan after every elections.. just like how it used to be in India pre EVM era...

 

[takeiteasy]

database security will have to be paramount.. along with honest people managing the system.
An EVm is also 1's and 0's..
and any 1's and 0's can be overwritten.

Voter Database is Public(GoI website). I believe, these EVM's needs upgrades just like any hardware.

 

[SamantK]

database security will have to be paramount.. along with honest people managing the system.
An EVm is also 1's and 0's..
and any 1's and 0's can be overwritten.

Agree, its not like just any guy can overwrite the votes, India has shown them to reliable against such risks..

 

[darkinsky]

Will that mean the votes cannot be purchased to derail and manipulate the economy? Sadly no...because votes are purchased by providing cash to voters...and this will just become another money waste project.

at least fake votes and pressure votes can be avoided??

 

[zip]

Just lease it from india for one month ..will be cheaper than paper voting ..

 

[darkinsky]

pakistan has nadra, who if asked can produce a reliable electronic system, nadra has all the database computerised, but we pakistanis beg others to help us