ECP asks Punjab to do away with EVM condition for LG polls.

ISLAMABAD -- The EleAction Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has asked the Punjab government to amend the law to do away with the requirement of using electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the upcoming local government polls in the province, it emerged on Thursday.

An ECP official confirAmAAed that the commission had recently written letters to the Punjab chief secretary and the Punjab local government and community deAAAvelopment department secretary to this effect.

The ECP noted that as per the governmAent's reqAuiremAeAnAAts, these machines would have to be indigenously proAAduced, wherein no competitive process wouAAld be required.

MoreAover, the ECP said that given the size of the exercise in Punjab, the ECP would need approAximately 205,000 EVMs for local government (LG) elections in Punjab.

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Terming LG elections a complex exercise needing handling of multiple ballots while most machines can handle only a single ballot, the ECP said that to conduct elections using EVMs in the constitutionally-stipulated time of 120 days, it would have to purchase machines from the market.

Chief Election ComAmiAsAsioner Sikandar Sultan RaAja had, during a hearing last month, termed the...