E-voting for overseas Pakistanis unsafe, poll body tells top court
- 11 hours ago
Tariq Butt, Correspondent
The Supreme Court (SC) has sought replies from Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) within two weeks in a matter relating to right of vote to overseas Pakistanis.
A five-member Constitutional Bench headed by Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan heard the case of right of vote to overseas Pakistanis.
During the hearing, the ECP termed the facility of vote to overseas Pakistanis through the e-voting system unsafe. The court was informed that e-voting had been made in some 35 constituencies and its report had been submitted in a Senate committee.
The ECP information technology director told the court that a serious attack was made on the e-voting system from one to three hours, adding that the system could also be hacked.
A member of the bench, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar observed that if hacking is being made then the whole system is endangered, adding that nowadays everything is run on the internet.
The ECP official submitted that the threat of hacking further worsened when facility was given to overseas Pakistanis, adding an attempt of hacking from India and the Philippines was already made on the pilot project.
Uzair Bhandari, counsel for petitioner former prime minister Imran Khan, told the court that his client does not trust the ECP, adding that all the overseas Pakistanis are his voters that’s why they were not let to cast their votes.
Justice Musarat Hilali, however, said that it’s not like that, while Justice Jamal Mandokhail observed that the ECP had sent the report to Parliament and asked Imran Khan’s lawyer that he should also go to Parliament.
Arif Chaudhry advocate, however, told the court that Parliament has made the law and now the Supreme Court has to decide this issue.
"Then let’s close the parliament,” Justice Mandokhail remarked at which Arif Chaudhry said that efforts were underway to close the Supreme Court for running the parliament.
Justice Mandokhail then asked whether the Supreme Court would be held responsible if the IT system failed. Later, the court sought replies from ECP and Nadra and adjourned the matter for date-in-office.
