Staff Report IBD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is mulling introduction of electronic voting machines (EVMs) on a limited scale for the upcoming by-polls.
The ECP, under its reforms programme, is planning to introduce these machines in parallel with the manual voting method at certain polling stations, an official of the commission told the media.
He said that the initial idea was to hold some by-polls in one or two constituencies through EVMs as a pilot project but the new acting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice Shakirullah Jan had opposed the idea considering the literacy rate in the country.
“Electronic voting should be conducted at a few specific polling stations of a constituency rather than the entire constituency,” he reasoned out.
The commission has announced by-polls in Sindh Assembly seat PS-52 Tando Muhammad Khan and Punjab Assembly seat PP-194 Multan on April 26, 2012 while by-elections in two more Punjab Assembly seats, PP-243 DG Khan and PP-245 DG Khan will be held on May 7, 2012.
According to the new plan, it is likely that voting at these constituencies will be conducted through electronic and manual voting at these selected stations and ECPs technical staff will remain present during the voting process at the venue to assist voters.

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