Electronic voting engines (EVM), produced locally, will cost Rs 70,000 per machine, while the federal government wants to acquire approximately 400,000 EVM for general elections in 2023, including those produced locally and imported.
Shibli Faraz, the Minister of Science and Technology, revealed these details at a hearing of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Science and Technology.
The meeting to examine problems linked to the Ministry of Science and Technology was presided over by Committee Chairman Sajid Mehdi (MoST).
He said that the EVM is a user-friendly machine which will help to stop fraudulent elections in the future. Faraz added that the gadget is watertight, weatherproof, and cannot be hacked due to its non-internet connectivity.
The opposition legislators have been advised “to avoid unwarranted criticism and to propose improvements in the field of EVM.”
The Committee welcomed the efforts made in short time by the COMSATS University Islamabad and by the National Institute of Electronics Islamabad to prepare EVMs.
