NADRA and Election Commission of Pakistan at loggerheads on I-voting

ISLAMABAD Sep 17, 2021- A row between two more institutions has surfaced, NADRA and Election Commission of Pakistan are at loggerheads on the I-voting issue.

NADRA Chairman Tariq Malik said that Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is a constitutional body, even if they scold us, this is their right.

“We are not ordering the Election Commission,” NADRA Chairman Tariq Malik told a press briefing at the Pakistani embassy in Washington.

“It could be a misunderstanding,” he said.

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Chairman NADRA said that ECP gave us verbal go head, after which the IT department sought permission.

He added that there would be a misunderstanding if technical people had technical discussions.

Tariq Malik also said that when he be back home, he will clear up the misunderstanding. We have been cooperating a lot with each other.

The Chairman of the ECP in his reply letter to NADRA said that the letter gives the impression that NADRA is giving orders to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

ECP wrote a reply to the Chairman NADRA. The letter said that it was the responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan to implement the new procedure for elections.

The letter of the Election Commission Pakistan said that the tone of the letter of NADRA gives the impression that as the ECP is a subsidiary of NADRA, it gives the impression that NADRA is giving orders to the ECP.

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In the letter, the ECP said that NADRA wants to sign a new agreement of Rs 2.4 billion for i-voting with the ECP. NADRA should first explain why it abandoned its previous i-voting scheme.

The ECP said in its letter that Rs 66.50 million had been spent on the previous i-voting scheme. If there were any flaws in the existing system, who is responsible for it?

It is to be noted that NADRA in its letter had asked the ECP to make positive progress on NADRA’s proposed system of i-voting.

The Election Commission in its a reply letter expressed frustration over the tone adopted by NADRA. 

The system was put in trial by the ECP, which was to conduct pilot testing in four constituencies, while it was used in only two constituencies.

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