Thursday, March 28, 2024

Electoral reforms are required for 2023 elections says Fawad Chaudhary

Fawad Chaudhary, the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, has stated that the 2023 general elections will only be held when electoral reforms have been implemented in the country.

Fawad Chaudhary, who spoke at a press conference in Islamabad on Sunday alongside Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz, continued his criticism of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, saying that if he is unable to stay out of controversies, he should resign and enter political life.

Furthermore, he accused the CEC and the Opposition of putting roadblocks in the path of election reform efforts.

In his words, “a campaign is being waged against electronic voting machines,” and he went on to say that the Chief Elections Commissioner and the opposition “are speaking the same language.”

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“The manner in which the ECP raised concerns to the EVMs reveals a particular mindset,” said Chaudhary, who went on to say that the CEC is opposed to EVMs “for a variety of political reasons.”

Several objections to electronic voting machines (EVMs) were raised, according to the minister, and only 10 of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) 37 objections were connected to EVMs. The minister added that only a few of the objections to EVMs were raised “intentionally.”

He said that the ECP had “disappeared” all the points in its report that were in favor of the EVM vote.

Chaudhary also expressed concern with the CEC’s absence from meetings attended by the president, stating that “this is not a banana republic” for him to act in this manner.

According to the minister, when he is not in a good mood, he isn’t bothered by matters such as Supreme Court decisions, the president of Pakistan, the National Database and Registration Authority (NDRA), or anything else.

For the first time in Pakistani history, according to the minister, government officials are talking about introducing electoral reforms to the country; in the past, the Opposition had always been the ones to bring up the subject.

” The reforms implemented by the government have significantly enhanced the public’s confidence in the voting process, exceeding the previous 33 percent, and everyone agrees that the current electoral system need reform,” Chaudhary added.

He reaffirmed that the PTI has always supported electoral reforms and electronic voting machines (EVMs) because they desire free and fair elections.

If the Opposition and the ECP do not agree with the reforms proposed by the administration, Chaudhary has requested them to submit their own reform proposals to the government.

He went on to say that the government will urge two members of the ECP to step forward and study the issues mentioned by CEC Raja in the ECP report, which will be released shortly.

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