EVM 'system' can be activated 'within a month': Senator Faisal Javed Khan

• Faisal Javed Khan says elections with EVMs is "just a one time expense".
• Tariq says "conducting elections through unilateral legislation could bring dangerous results".
• Says the government wants to "manage" the elections through EVMs.

PTI Senator Faisal Javed Khan on Thursday said that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) "system can be activated within a month".

In Wednesday's joint session of Parliament, a record 33 bills were passed in a single day, including the crucial bills related to the use of EVMs.

The passage of amendments to the Elections Act, 2017, has allowed the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and given overseas Pakistanis the right to vote in general elections.

The senator's statement today came during Geo News programme "Capital Talk".

Khan said, while advocating the use of EVMs in the next general elections, that EVMs are "just a one time expense".

"There will be no more expenditure in the future," he said.

The senator said that EVMs are working successfully in India and have "ended the polling process issues".

He said that the Election Commission of Pakistan hasn't worked on the EVMs since 2017.

Meanwhile, former special assistant to the prime minister, Zulfi Bukhari, said that overseas Pakistani's getting the right to vote is a "major development".

"Overseas Pakistanis can now use their right to vote through e-voting," he said.

'Unilateral legislation could bring dangerous results'

PML-N leader and former federal minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, also a guest on the show, said that the government wants to "manage" the elections through EVMs.

"Conducting elections through unilateral legislation could bring dangerous results," he said. 

While speaking about PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif's conviction, Tariq said that the case against Nawaz involved the Panama Papers but he was convicted for holding an iqama (UAE residency permit).

"This made the trial controversial," he said.

The Supreme Court had disqualified Nawaz as prime minister on July 28, 2017 at the conclusion of the Panama Papers case. 

Tariq said that Nawaz's name should be in the Guinness Book of World Records for the number of opportunities he got to defend himself.