It seems the PTI government is in an unholy haste to provide legal cover to its election reform plan, the primary component of which is the introduction of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and allowing overseas Pakistanis to participate in elections remotely through ‘I-voting’. The opposition is questioning the government’s motives behind bringing about such sweeping changes to the electoral process, alleging it is part of an elaborate plan to rig the 2023 general elections. Even the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is not fully convinced that introducing EVMs is the best approach towards free and fair elections. The required amendments that will have to be made to the Election Act 2017, need to pass through parliament and it is the upper house where the PTI government will face a challenge as it does not have the required numbers to defeat the collective opposition. Perhaps this is why Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, after receiving a lot of flak from the PPP, has brought back lawmaker Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar to the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs weeks after moving him to another panel without his consent, but at the same time has included Samina Mumtaz Zehri of the Balochistan Awami Party, which skews the numbers in favor of the PTI at the committee level. It is very unlikely that the government will fail to pass these amendments as it always has the option of calling a joint session of both houses to make sure it has the requisite numbers to succeed.
It is unfortunate that such sweeping changes are being brought to one of the most important democratic exercises that takes place in the country without the necessary discussion and debate in parliament and will most likely be bulldozed thorough, just like various previous bills have been during the past three years where bipartisan consensus was completely absent. The ECP must also give its nod of approval for these measures to be undertaken. Being a regulatory authority independent of the executive and the body that will have to make the use of EVMs and I-voting safe, fair and free of controversy, it is a major stakeholder. The government would therefore do well to provide an honest unbiased opportunity to both the opposition and ECP to voice their concerns and address them. Otherwise, the PTI’s endeavor to reform the election process will be thoroughly counterproductive, creating more problems for themselves rather than others.
