Prime Minister Imran Khan, on Wednesday, revealed that a shocking number of votes were rejected during the first phase of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Local Government (LG) elections in December 2021.“LG elections in KP have again shown problem of rejected votes, because of double stamping, etc.,” the premier said on Twitter. He also shared official figures, revealing that the number of votes rejected, 23,113, was almost double the victory margin, 12,087, between the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) candidates.“The same had come out in the Judicial Commission report on the 2013 elections,” PM Khan noted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">LG elections in KP have again shown problem of rejected votes bec of double stamping etc. The same had come out in Judicial Commission report on 2013 elections. The ability to manipulate elections through getting opp votes rejected is one of the reasons the status quo opposes EVM <a href="https://t.co/ch78zPEGQw">pic.twitter.com/ch78zPEGQw</a></p>— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1493830908113297410?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Prime Minister said that the opposition was opposing the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) because it will end their chances to manipulate elections.
“The ability to manipulate elections by getting opposition votes rejected is one of the reasons the status quo opposes EVM,” he added.In a separate development, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), on Tuesday, informed that the Project Management Unit (PMU) of the Commission has formally started work on EVMs and overseas voting projects.
The ECP, in a statement, said that it was finalizing the project plan with a timeline to purchase electronic voting machines.
It added that in the first phase, EVMs will be purchased for pilot testing.
“Besides, the commission has also started its working on EOI and RFP,” it said.
The ECP added that machines will be purchased through advertisement, and under PPRA rules, these machines will be purchased from national or international firms.
