EVMs panacea to all forms of rigging in elections Shibli Faraz.

PESHAWAR -- Federal Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz said Monday that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were panacea to all forms of rigging in elections and urged political parties to come and test these machines for holding next general elections in fair and transparent manner.

Addressing the business community at Sarhad Chamber of Commerce, Shibli Faraz said the government was striving to take the opposition on board for introduction of EVMs in elections and added these machines could be used anytime at a single place either during by-election or local bodies elections on a trial basis.

He said every election in the past remained controversial due to the faults in the process of polling and counting, adding electronic voting machines would put an end to such things and there would be stability in the country as a result of fair elections which were a prerequisite for business and economic development of the country.

He said that leveling baseless allegations and conjectures with regard to these gadgets by the opposition would be unfair, they should come and test them to satisfy themselves.

However, he added, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would decide finally about utilization of these machines. Later the EVMs were also demonstrated before participants as how it worked.

Earlier during a meeting with the business community Shibli Faraz said the Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) was being revitalized with shifting its headquarters from Karachi to Islamabad to promote quality business culture and ensure standards and conformity assessment to compete internationally.

The science and technology minister said that currently the PSQCA which was mainly supposed to foster and promote standards and conformity assessment as a means of advancing the national economy was not delivering upto that level and it had been decided to make it more effective. He said that a well qualified and experienced man with proven track record of integrity would be hired from market on...