Islamabad: NIE’s electronic voting machines to tackle rigging

The National Institute of Electronics in Islamabad has developed  electronic voting machines to tackle electoral rigging.

Voters will be able to see the symbols of all contesting political parties on the machine. They will just have to press the button of the candidate they want to vote for. A green light will tell voters that their votes have been cast successfully.

The institute claims that voter's data will be kept secured.

NIE Director Kamran Bhatti explained the voting process through the electronic system.

“There are issues of rigging and ballot stuffing in the manual system,” he said. “On the election day, NADRA will provide the data for voter verification. Voters will be verified through thumb impressions.”

NIE’s Technical Research Director Kamran Bhatti said that the best thing about developing equipment locally is that it costs less and we can embed our own security. “If we procure a similar machine from abroad, we will always have security concerns,” he said.

It will produce the final tally once the polling is over. It will also give the ballot paper report.

The records of electronic machine and ballot paper could be presented in the court if the results are challenged.