ISLAMABAD - Secretary Election Commission Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan on Tuesday asked the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms to introduce biometric system and electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the next general elections and also recommended formal legislation on the code of conduct for next general elections.
The committee meeting was held here on Tuesday under the chair of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar with almost all the members in attendance except those belonging to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
Secretary Election Commission Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan presented a formal document comprising 16 recommendations before the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms with the request to convert these recommendations into a bill for legislation in the Parliament.
The recommendations included conducting of national census on immediate basis so that the fresh delimitation of the constituencies could be done.
So far the committee had received around 280 proposals from lawyers, civil society members and other segments of society and to examine these recommendations and the applicability of electronic voting machines and biometric system the chairman of the committee in consultation with the members have sought the technical assistance from the ministry of science and technology, NADRA and PCSRS.
The experts from these departments would attend the next meeting of the committee, which would be held on September 1.
When the committee meeting started, the officials of Election Commission of Pakistan gave briefing to the members on Electoral Strategic Plan 2014-18 and also presented documents containing proposals for the reformation of the prevalent electoral system in the country.
Ishaq Dar said that so far they had received 280 recommendations from various civil society bodies and they could furnish the recommendations till 31st of this month.
Dar said that they would also review the recommendations given by the local and foreign observers of 2013 general elections while the recommendations of the parliamentary bodies over the past several years would also be reviewed and could be incorporated in the final draft of electoral reforms.