The Supreme Court has allowed Pakistanis living abroad to vote in by-elections.
The Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and others seeking voting rights for overseas Pakistanis.
The Chief Justice ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan to make arrangements to enable overseas Pakistanis to cast their votes in the by-polls.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Nisar remarked that overseas Pakistanis would be participating in the by-election through i-voting [a system that allows voters to cast ballots from any computer connected to the internet anywhere in the world].
He said that in case of conflict, ballots cast through i-voting would be separated.
The CJP Justice Nisar also congratulated the overseas Pakistanis, saying their right to vote has been accepted.
He further said that the pilot project should be completed under the operation plan of the ECP, referring to the series of pilot projects that would be conducted in limited areas instead of full constituencies before a final decision on incorporation of i-voting is taken.
However, he added, experimental voting does not mean that the results would be overlooked. All the results should be presented before the Parliament.
If the experiment is successful, overseas Pakistanis would be granted the right to vote in general elections.
The Chief Justice also thanked the ECP and National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) for including the names of overseas Pakistanis in voters' lists.
Meanwhile, PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhry said that the long struggle of party Chairman Imran Khan for granting of right of vote to overseas Pakistanis had succeeded.
It is worth mentioning here that overseas Pakistanis were not allowed to vote in General Election 2018 as it was believed they were being misled through various campaigns on social networking platforms, said NADRA.