ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court of Pakistan was Wednesday approached against the amendment in Election Act 2017 for use of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in general elections 2023.
The joint session of the Parliament on November 17 had passed 33 bills in a single day, including the bill to use EVMs in the general elections 2023. The petitioner, Saleem Ullah Khan, moved the court and contended that the amendments in the laws were never put to any debate and were simply bulldozed the election laws. He submitted that the illegal amendments in the election law affect the public interest and rights of the entire nation.
He submitted that the amendments made are completely mala fide and in contravention of the constitution, and these amendments will open a floodgate of rigging in the elections. He stated that the cost of EVMs is much higher than its benefit and these entail huge concomitant cost, ills and risks in aspects of the elections.
Khan said that the objections raised by the ECP have been ignored, and the amendments have curtailed and abridged the ECP authority. The substitution made in Section 103 is confusing as it does not explain what is follow after the purchase of the EVMs.
He maintained that the amendment in Section 94 is silent that as to how the overseas Pakistanis will cast their votes from abroad. NADRA has been made to usurp the jurisdiction, authority and independence of the ECP.
