THE controversy regarding the use of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) is continuing between the government and the opposition parties, as the latter feels that the EVM is meant to rig the elections.

The impasse can be resolved if we make certain changes in the design of the machine. Presently, the machine prints the vote of the party which is selected by the voter. He is able to see the vote being printed and it automatically falls into the ballot box.

One change could be that instead of one printer in the EVM, there should be two printers; the other vote being printed will be inserted manually by the voter in a separate ballot box. Both the printed votes will also have the same random serial number printed on them.

The contestant should be given the choice of selecting electoral count of the EVM or manual count and for this they have to pay extra amount to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The unofficial result can be announced on the basis of electronic count. Official result of those who opted for manual count should be announced after the physical count is done. The only possible source of error would be when the voter does not put his vote in the ballot box on purpose to discredit the election or by mistake.

This count mismatch can easily be verified by the missing serial number as well as on the basis of the count of the thumb impression of the voter concerned.

Nasim Imtiaz
Karachi

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2022