Prime Minister Imran Khan has taken aim at the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for its opposition to the government’s proposed electoral reforms and the introduction of electronic voting machines (EVMs). Speaking to parliament, PM Khan expressed the ruling party’s view that such reforms, as well as the EVMs, were needed to ensure “free and fair elections.”
He stated that the government had examined instances of poll rigging and reached the conclusion that EVMs were needed to check these malpractices:
“As soon as the elections are over, the result is in front of you. If someone wants to verify, then they can check the paper trail,” he said.
The PM stated that he found the ECP’s grounds for opposing these proposed changes to be “strange.” He said:
“They provided strange reasons: What if there is no electricity in Balochistan, what if this happens, what if that happens? Do they know what happens in the elections? Ballot papers are double stamped, the results arrive after 24 hours. The only solution is EVMs.”
Decrying what he saw as the role of the opposition and the Election Commission in preventing the ruling party’s proposed changes to how elections are conducted, the PM said:
“We wanted to bring reforms so that the next elections would be fair.” He added: “This is how low our moral standards have fallen.”
According to PM Khan, the decline in moral standards was the reason why these electoral changes have not yet been successfully introduced, citing the Opposition as a product of a corrupt system.
The solution, according to the Prime Minister, is to follow the teachings of the Prophet (PBUH). He pointed out what he sees as examples of this: “Scandinavian countries, China and Jews,” who he believes to have progressed by following these teachings. “Any person who follows his footsteps will thrive,” noted the PM.
In the PM’s view, if a nation keeps its morality, “they cannot be beaten even with atomic bombs — just like Japan.”
