LONDON: Senior PML-N leader Ishaq Dar told reporters that prominent PTI lawmakers had opposed electronic voting machines in 2016-2017.

In a Geo report, Dar says the PTI lawmakers "who are nowadays vociferously advocating EVMs as a panacea for all election disputes, had opposed the machines in 2016-2017."

The former finance minister said a special committee of all the parliamentary parties in the National Assembly rejected the proposal for employing the EVMs for general elections after holding 30 meetings on the issue.

“PTI leaders Dr Arif Alvi, Shafqat Mahmood and Dr Shireen Mazari were also members of the committee who shared the views of the fellow members,” he told reporters in London.

Dar said he was head of the committee and everyone unanimously rejected the proposal "on the grounds that such a system was not compatible with Pakistan’s condition."

He added the EVM is not feasible for holding elections in Pakistan, adding that several countries stopped using them.

The PTI government has passed the bill to use EVMs and i-voting for the next elections.

ECP not sure about using EVMs in next elections

The Election Commission of Pakistan, however, is still not sure if EVMs can be used in the next polls.

This was disclosed following a meeting of the members of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice, chaired by PTI MNA Riaz Fatyana on Thursday.

The ECP official had said there are challenges in using EVMs and they don't know if it will be possible to use them in the next election.

ECP Secretary Omar Hamid Khan told the meeting that EVMs need to go through 14 steps before they can be used in the 2023 polls. There would be three to four more pilot projects related to the use of the EVMs, he said, adding they need to ascertain how many EVMs will be in each station.