The Election Commission of Pakistan has rejected the proposal of using the Electronic Voting Machine (EVMs) stating that the EVMs can't stop poll riggings and the machine has no procedure to submit evidences in case of conflict.

The election body in a detailed document written to the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs raised 37 objections on the use of the EVM, reported Dawn.

According to the document, the secrecy of the ballot paper was difficult to maintain through the use of the machines, while the identity of voter in the proposed EVM wouldn’t remain anonymous.

It further said the credibility and transparency of the ECP for holding the free and fair elections would remain suspicious after spending a large amount of money on the machines. Therefore, the usage of the EVMs was not justified economically.

The ECP in the document also highlighted that all stakeholders were not agreed on the use of the EVMs in the polls, while the international standard was not maintained during the manufacturing of the machine due to the hasty decision. It further noted that the staff was not trained to operate the EVMs and the public was not educated enough to use the machine.

In the document, the election body pointed out the possibility of delay in the result of polls, while the ECP said in case of court orders the ballot papers had to be changed and it would be impossible to feed the whole data in the machine on the orders of the court.

The turn out in the election could not be improved through the use of the EVMs, said the ECP.

It further said it was impossible to conduct free and fair elections in haste through the use of technology as the EVMs could not stop poll riggings.