Chief election commissioner is an obstacle to electoral reform: Fawad Chaudhary

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has said that the Chief Election Commissioner is an obstacle in the way of electoral reforms and he has lost his credibility.

Addressing a press conference with Science and Technology Minister Shibli Faraz on Sunday, he said that a campaign was being launched against Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and all the elections conducted by the Election Commission were controversial. "Other members of the Election Commission should review the decisions of the Chief Election Commissioner. If he wants to do politics, he should resign."

He said that the matter would be taken up in the joint session of the parliament and the 2023 elections would be held only after the reforms. The minister said that there is a difference between the Election Commissioner and the Election Commission and there are reservations over the attitude of the CEC. "The 37 objections of the Election Commission are very awkward. The data in favour of EVM was extracted in the reports of the Election Commission. The Election Commission made several important points in its report. EVMs have been under discussion since 2011. Elections have been held on EVMs in Peshawar and Chakwal," he maintained. 

Fawad Chaudhry said that a company briefed the Election Commission on EVM. "Elections are being held in the Philippines through EVMs. People in the Philippines also have confidence in EVMs. The dispute between the Election Commission and the NADRA is due to lack of technology. Pakistan is the first country to issue machine readable passports," he concluded.