ISSUE 1. FAKE VOTING 2. WRONG CALCULATION OF VOTES 3.

DIFFICULTY IN CASTING VOTES

Pakistan has always faced an issue of having real democracy in force and the basic reason why it has never been able to govern by proper leadership was in security of the people and distrust on elections, elected bodies, and the democratic system where people can sell votes and buy votes without any problem. Digging deep into the problem international medias like international crisis and freedom house see the root cause is the ill mannered activities people do in the elections. As the whole system is manual so they buy votes and or shake hands with people working at voting stations and the people in command will their pockets and make the whole system unfair. Therefore Pakistan is in a need of such a system where people can vote without any problem and feel secure and no one can manipulate the results. Such environment can only be created through some sort of automated system which cannot be forged or cheated by any one. Here I would like to invoke my issue into agenda setting.

Problem discussion As soon as computer went on e-move there is a need to figure out how to safeguard the sensitive information of the government. Security and trust are amongst the main issues in the government, and also are amongst the main problem in practicing e-government. Along with these issues one of the main emerging aspects of e-government is e-democracy specifically e-voting. How to secure e-voting, may it be electronic machines being used in the polling station or getting citizen caste their vote through specially driven websites for the sake of elections. Pakistan has had a history of unfair election or the losing party would say that election was unfair. Thats the only reason that there was no political government which completed its tenure of five years and collapses or was forced to collapsed within two, three and four years. As a result our beloved Pakistan always has democracy that is not the true democracy as it should be.

There are mainly two aspects of this issue: 1. SOCIAL ASPECTS

In the years of Pakistan history there was not only a single govrnment that completed its tenure stated in the constitution of pakstan. In all the elections losing party denied the lost and putted full blame on the unfair elections and they most of the times triggered into rallies and violent protest that really disturb the working of government. 2. TECHNICAL ASPECTS Appointment of polling staff is problematic they can help corruption during voting. To print huge number of papers in not acceptable to the state like Pakistan. Huge number of voters list is available to the polling staff. Most of the time they are purchased by powerful candidates of election who can cast bundles of illegal votes. I personally witnessed some cases where polling staff were casting votes of those persons who have died long ago. Here I would like to say that if we need to hold a free fare election we need to abolish this orthodox system of voting. Not only this but if the continued voting system keeps on working then governments elected on the basis of this election would be totally corrupt and what you can expect from a government which is being elected on corruption and what you think they will do for the betterment of our nation our Pakistan. There is immense need of implementing electronic voting system in Pakistan. This will not only reduce the threat of corruption but would also increase the satisfaction of the nation on the present democratic system. In the long run no one would claim for unfair elections and the government elected as a result of free fare election would most probably led Pakistan on the path of success. STANDING ON THE AGENDA This issue was in agenda universe along ago but now because of the immense struggle of unofficial actors it has taken place in the institutional agenda. In my case it was only the role of unofficial actors that compelled official actors to take this issue on agenda instead of bundles of other problems lying on the agenda universe. Pakistan to have Electronic Voting Machines Monday, October 11, 2010 12:58:52 PM, IANS Islamabad: Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be introduced in Pakistan and some 200,000 EVMs would be procured before the general elections, authorities said. The Pakistani Election Commission plans to conduct a pilot project during local government polls expected next year, Dawn reported. The general elections were last held in 2008.

Sources said Saturday that a committee went into the the merits and demerits of EVMs and it found the use of the technology in the country feasible. The EVMs feasibility report has been sent to President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. The committee observed that the Election Commission should initiate the process for procurement of EVMs for the pilot project. It also suggested that a request for quotations should be sent to leading EVM vendors. Sources said that billions of rupees would be required to implement the project as some 200,000 EVMs would have to be procured for general elections. Though the cheapest EVM offered by an Indian company costs Rs.25,000 , the Election Commission wants to introduce a better version. (SOURECE: DAWN NEWS)

Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Hamid Ali Mirza said the passage of electoral reforms bill by parliament making CNICs mandatory for voting was a historic step forward to provide legal cover for preparation of computerized electoral rolls in collaboration with the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra). In a statement, the CEC thanked parliamentarians, political parties, civil society and the media for fully supporting the EC in its efforts to achieve its objectives. MEDIA COVERAGE EC plans law for e-voting From the Newspaper | National | By Amir Wasim April 24, 2011 ISLAMABAD, April 23: The Election Commission has said that it will propose to parliament a new law for introduction of electronic voting in future elections in the country. A committee of the EC is working on a pilot project to test electronic voting machines (EVMs) in real environment. In a statement issued here on Saturday, EC secretary Ishtiak Ahmed Khan said the commission was sending a draft bill to parliament for legislation so that amendment could be made to the Representation of the People Act 1976 and the rules framed under it.

He said the EC was working on adoption of EVMs for use during upcoming elections. Moreover, he said, instructions had been issued to all provincial election commissioners to complete arrangements for door-to-door verification of preliminary electoral rolls in July 2011. The EC will complete this task in December 2011 and the final lists will be given to Nadra for printing so that the same could be used for any future elections, he said. The secretary said a high-level delegation visited Brussels in July last year to attend International Conference on EVMs to learn experiences of other countries. He said a feasibility study was conducted and the commission had so far arranged three EVM demonstrations for representatives of major political parties for seeking their recommendations and taking them on board. The secretary made it clear that the EC was halfway through the initiative and just needed time and necessary resources for completion of the remaining stages by the end of the year. Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Hamid Ali MIRZA said the passage of electoral reforms bill by parliament making CNICs mandatory for voting was a historic step forward to provide legal cover for preparation of computerized electoral rolls in collaboration with the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). In a statement, the CEC thanked parliamentarians, political parties, civil society and the media for fully supporting the EC in its efforts to achieve its objectives. As introduction of new system requires meticulous planning and timely execution, the EC has thus been deliberating and taking necessary decisions in consultation with stakeholders over the past more than a year to reach this stage, the CEC said. The secretary said the draft of the bill making CNIC mandatory was sent by the EC on Dec 29 last year to the ministry of law, justice and parliamentary affairs which had now been passed by parliament. He said that last year a pilot project for preparation of computerized electoral rolls was started and completed in four districts, one in each province. He said that information about household numbers and CNICs of heads of households had been collected through enumerators and supervisors engaged by the Population Census Organization.

The EC database pertaining to electoral rolls-2007 was provided to NADRA in February this year which after verification and augmentation was released on March 8.

The petition is filed under the Article 184(3) through advocate Hamid Khan, where he prayed to direct the election commission of Pakistan to introduce eltronic rolls, which will help in making the system white as well as efficient. He prayed that the new electoral rolls should be introduced in a manner that should include the name of voter in such electoral area wherein his address mentioned on the CNIC exists. Imran Khan further stressed on the importance of this system by arguing that photographs of the voters should also be included in electoral rolls in the future elections as well as praying that the election commission should take into account the following points:

Bogus electoral rolls would destroy the basic right of vote given by the constitution and the laws to the citizens Nadra had reported the authenticity of 37.18 million voters, but it could not verify them when the Election Commission sent electoral list to it for verification It is thus self evident that there are 37.18 million bogus votes registered by the Election Commission in the electoral rolls This would constitute 45.67 percent of the total voters entered on the electoral roll These new machines will not only rule out the possibility of dual voting by a voter but will also result in accurate number of vote counts Violation of sanctity of the ballot boxes may also be eradicated India and Bangladesh have already adopted this technology in their election systems

On a personal note, this system, in doubt, has many fruitful outcomes as well as the eradication of different kinds of frauds and mishaps but one point that may lead the idea to the files is that in an under developing country where load-shedding is a big problem, these machines may face electricity issues in some areas, though can be overcome using the generators and other resources but huge capital is required to implement the system.

Whereas the idea, earlier given, SMS Based Electoral System is much easier to implement and is more hassle free.

OFFICIAL ACTORS: GOVERNMENT, OPPOSITION, JUDICIARY, BUREAUCRACY, ELECTION COMMISSION OF PAKISTAN, legislature, parliament, senate, UNOFFICIAL ACTORS: POLITICAL PARTIES ( specially PTI), COMMUNICATION MEDIA, INTEREST GROUP (developer of electronic voting machines, software developers etc etc). CONCLUSION This policy should made and implemented so that Pakistan can have a trusted democracy.