Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Shibli Faraz, has announced prize money worth Rs. 1 million for anyone who can hack the electronic voting machine (EVM) developed by his Ministry.
Speaking during a talk show last night, the Minister challenged all hackers to try and hack the EVM and win the cash prize, adding that the reason behind his confidence is its secure design.
He went on to say that his Ministry had invited a number of hackers and asked them to crack it but none of them were able to do so.
This shows that EVM made by the Ministry is secure and will end the reservations of political parties regarding rigging during elections once and for all.
Unfortunately, the joint opposition has adopted an extreme stance on the use of EVMs in the upcoming general elections. The Ministry invited senior opposition members for a demonstration of the EVM but they outrightly rejected the invitation.
He added that opposition parties are reluctant to use EVMs in the elections because they know it will shut down their only avenue of rigging the elections.
The allied parties of the federal government had also raised somewhat similar objections to the use of EVMs in the elections but the government addressed their concerns and convinced them to vote in favor of amendments to the Elections Act 2017.
With these amendments, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is now required to conduct the next general elections through EVMs while overseas Pakistanis have been granted the right to vote in elections through i-voting.
Since coming to power more than three years ago, Prime Minister Imran Khan has been making efforts to introduce an e-voting system to ensure impartiality and transparency in the elections and allow overseas Pakistanis to participate in the elections through i-voting.
Same month last year, the premier had announced electoral reforms for free and fair elections in the country. The reforms included an e-voting system for general elections, open balloting through a show of hands during Senate elections, and allowing overseas Pakistanis to cast their votes.
