Govt to ensure transparency in future elections, Babar Awan tells CEC

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan has said that the federal government will ensure transparency in the future elections, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Babar Awan held an important meeting with the chief election commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja at the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) headquarters in Islamabad today.

During the meeting, Babar Awan said that the federal government wanted to take the constitutional institution onboard regarding the election reforms. He said that the government wanted to ensure transparency in future elections.

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Sources told ARY News that the federal government assured the ECP of providing maximum assistance to work on electoral reforms. The CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja welcomed the government’s assurance and said that the institution will also support the legislation in favour of the public and national interests.

It is important to mention here that Prime Minister Imran Khan had assigned the task to Babar Awan to work for electoral reforms in consultation with the opposition and all stakeholders for ensuring transparency in the future elections.

In September, Babar Awan had said that the federal government will ensure the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and i-voting in the elections at any cost.

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Babar Awan had said in a statement that he wanted to remove the misunderstanding of everyone that the government will step back from its decision to use EVMs in the elections. He had reiterated that the government will not withdraw its decision to go for i-voting and EVMs.

He had said that the Supreme Court (SC) has given a very clear verdict regarding internet voting and it would be the contempt of the court by not giving the right of voting to the overseas Pakistanis.

Babar Awan had said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was the constitutional regulator to organise polls and it was its prime responsibility to conduct the polls in accordance with the law.

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The PM’s adviser had detailed that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be procured by the election commission but not the federal government. He added that ECP’s objections to the EVM-related laws were illegal as the regulator should have tabled its recommendations.

For addressing the reservations on the use of EVMs and i-voting, Babar Awan had said that the federal government have listened to the objections of ECP and others for hours. He said that the statements like pouring substances to seize EVMs for vote-rigging were ridiculous.