ISLAMABAD   -  The Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has said that the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the next general elections is yet to be decided.

In a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice, under Chairman Riaz Fatyana, held on the matter of EVMs last day, the Secretary ECP briefed the NA panel.

In his briefing, he said that it was too early to adopt a prediction regarding whether the EVMs will be used in the next general elections or not.

He said that there was still a long way to go, saying that there were many serious challenges in the way of complete use of EVMs in the next general elections.

He said that before getting the services of EVMs it has to go through 14 stages of trials and it may take some time to clear EVMs from these trials, said the Secretary ECP.

While talking about the trials for EVMs, he said that the Commission will have to run few pilot projects before using EVMs in the general elections. It is to be mentioned here that the incumbent government wants to hold the next general elections through EVMs. However, ECP is of the view that EVM cannot be directly used in general elections as it has many loopholes which need to be addressed. The ECP has raised 37 reservations over the use of EVMs in the general elections and claimed that EVMs can easily be hacked and altered, saying that there is a long way to go.