Electronic Voting - For a better Pakistan

After the Pakistan elections 2013 there has been controversies surrounding it specially by PTI, hyped about having a clean sweep victory. Although our paper based voting procedure confirms with the rest of the world .Its better to take advantage of electronic voting. What is the benefit of having technical progression and living in a 21^st century if we cant take any advantage it

 We have to do this sometime or the other so why not start working towards it for the next elections. For example, In the advent of the 21^st century, traditional readers didn’t pay any heed to the electronic editions of books and were opprobrious of the fact that they could ever take the position of papers books, time proved them wrong and within few years there was a sharp decline in sale of paper books due to it being expensive and inflexible. Encyclopedia Britannica in 2013 stopped publishing its paper editions due to huge loss and low public appeal. Thus the electronic touch transformed the way it used to do business.

Second, the big change in voting mechanism wont come without turmoil and unrest. Often people criticize it with the fact that urban population can get away with it but illiterate people cant use it with ease. All having their vested interest in the much controversial system but again a fair and democratic government as PML-N claims itself to be, should address this issue that must be highlighted by aggrieved party PTI. This will make sure that there claims are met the next time and for Pml-n to vindicate themselves of rigging

Third, electronic voting is necessary not only to provide a party is true mandate and for genuine voters who are left asking about their vote, a hassle free experience. But it will also make sure that transparency is present in the system, minimum human effort should cut the cost of useless poling agents and impersonators of ECP from any bribed party

If efficiently implemented not only will be quick and transparent but will also be cost effective and environment friendly being paper less. This should be one of the main agenda of PTI and all the parties to make sure that the faith of the Pakistani

People grow stronger in democracy.

Recommendation of the E- voting:

Ideally computers with big screens like ATM machine booth needs to be installed at the particular poling stations.  A separate room needs to be built at the front of the building where only people are provided an electronic slip to if they provide the CNIC and details together with their thumb impression. A poling agent needs to be present there for assistance and make sure this is covered by CCTV with city police, army, media etc

Then after taking out the electronic slip, a voter should enter the room where touch screen voting system is to be present that again will let the person cast vote after they enter the electronic number of the slip. This should then automatically send an email to the voter’s personal ID and ECP that a person holding CNIC xxx has voted for xxxx party or in case of non availability, number on the slip after voted has been cast must be noted by the voter. This will be effective in case of loss of data due to data crash etc.

However there could be serious opposition to this system due to electronic system being prone to hacking and getting jammed mid way. This also needs to be addressed prior to implementation. It is advised in the local body elections, a phase over approach has to be adopted to test the effectiveness of the system. So that it can be implemented smoothly for elections 2019 making sure that they don’t dent the pocket of Pakistan government next time with taller claims of free and fair elections