The introduction of an electronic voting machine (EVM) in the next general election is a costly proposal. According to relevant sources, the EVM-based elections in 2023 will double the cost of extensive exercises.

"If the government decides to overthrow the opposition in the parliament to pass the required amendments to the 2017 Electoral Law, and somehow successfully defeat the currently provocative Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), it still needs to prove that it is in addition to all other challenges , The country is struggling to cope with the impact of the pandemic, the financial cost of EVM," an economist pointed out privately.

Background research confirms that no formal assessment of the financial status of the proposed transition to EVM has been carried out. A rough assessment-assuming that the country needs 100,000 polling stations in 2023, and each polling station will have four polling stations-it is estimated that at least 400,000 EVMs will be needed in case the elections are not staggered and the same elections are held across the country in one day .

Essentially, any discussion about the use of electronic voting machines is part of the larger development debate in the country

For convenience, let us take the EVM unit price established by Pakistan Telephone Industries (TIP) and round it to 100,000 rupees per unit. Roughly calculated figures are 40 billion rupees, and the treasury only needs to pay 40 billion rupees for these machines. Coupled with logistics, warehousing, staff training, security arrangements, etc., it can easily climb to around 50-600 crore.

ECP officials confirmed to the Dawn newspaper from Islamabad that in the last general election, the ECP with more than 85,000 polling stations spent 28 billion rupees. In 2013, the corresponding amount was 4.7 billion rupees, while in 2008 it was only 1.8 billion rupees. That being the case, the cost of the next EVM-based election will actually be twice the cost of the ECP in the past three elections.

Although President Dr. Arif Alvi did issue a decree earlier this year that paved the way for the use of the new system, when Fawad Chaudhry had a combination of science and technology in the Federal Cabinet, the ball began to roll. According to him, this move aims to ensure the transparency of the process and make the election campaign more credible.

So far, ECP has been resisting government initiatives. It raised 37 objections to the plan in a document submitted to the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs.

"If passed hastily, the government's EVM plan may backfire and make the 2023 election more controversial," said a senior ECP official. "There is a qualitative difference between laboratory models and commercial production," he said of the demonstrations conducted by multiple local manufacturers and condemned their commercial production capabilities and capabilities.

"Ordering EVM from overseas suppliers is dangerous and expensive. It involves high data security risks and avoidable opportunities for the election system to be interfered by hostile elements," he said.

In addition to technical reservations, the ECP pointed out in a note to the Senate Standing Committee that the time required to switch from a manual process to an EVM-based process will be much longer than the remaining two years of the current government's term.

"Identifying, ordering, and protecting EVM is not enough for conversion. The entire ecosystem must evolve. Therefore, even if the government decides to convert in principle, it is not recommended to introduce EVM in the next general election.

"The Election Commission is an autonomous constitutional body responsible for conducting elections. The government should restrict its overzealous members from trying to coerce the institution into submission. It will create new rifts that the country cannot bear during these difficult times."

The senior source believes that commercial interests are being manipulated in some way and mentioned the names of some local and foreign private EVM manufacturers that are interested in conducting transactions.

"TIP, a public company that produced the first prototype in 2012-13, was conveniently removed from the list of manufacturers being discussed in different official forums. This is no accident," he added.

When contacted by phone in Haripur, the voice of the TIP team being marginalized at this stage sounded very low. The staff are keen to show their cases in the media as a strong competitor for EVM supply transactions. "Unfortunately, the EVM replica developed by TIP many years ago has attracted people's attention. Although it has been ignored for many years, TIP has the ability and funds to mass-produce EVM," TIP technical team member Zahid Gul told Dawn.

He regretted the lack of technical knowledge in ECP and disputed the statement regarding the use of EVM risk exposure. "We are an independent and complete unit, not linked to any network or application. Because the device is embedded with a biometric system, it can detect double voting or counting errors. It is simple and compact," he emphasized.

Another TIP advocate, Haq Nawaz Baloch, said that TIP EVM was tested in four polling stations in the Multan by-election and its performance was "impeccable."

A senior ECP source said that some media reported "baseless" the EVM tender and confirmed that the committee did not conduct any such tender. "These reports are implanted. We don't know who is behind them, but the people who sell them can't be well-meaning people in this country," he said.

The ECP website does not share the cost records of previous elections and their dissolution. This information may be embedded in the election report, but these files cannot be accessed. ECP officials contacted by Dawn were reluctant to show up in public on the grounds that the government was hostile to the media.

Free and fair elections are essential to democracy and development. Only a government that gains authority from the wishes of citizens can promote political and economic freedom. Therefore, the debate on the use of EVM is part of the larger development debate in the country.

"If the government decides to stagger the election process, the cost of the EVM-based system can be controlled," said an independent observer. "This is a major move that requires the support of all major political parties to succeed," he concluded.

Published in Dawn, Business and Finance Weekly, September 20, 2021

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