Dr. Yasmin Raashid advisor to PTI Chairman said Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) with its inefficient administration has proven that the retired judges whose energies are already exhausted cannot run ECP efficiently. General elections in the country are due in 2018 i.e. after two and half year but incapable ECP has given straight no to the overseas Pakistanis that they cannot exercise their right to vote even in 2018 she added. She said the issue of overseas Pakistanis voting right has been pending with the Supreme Court since 2010. The ECP wasted five years since 2010 and are now saying that they are still not ready to give overseas Pakistanis the right to vote she added. She said all sorts of excuses being brought up by ECP to continue denying voting rights to overseas Pakistanis. Why did ECP not learn any thing from other countries experiences, which are holding elections for their overseas citizens from decades she questioned? She said everything is possible in this age of technology. If sixty plus ECP officials did not understand and develop E-voting mechanism then they better resign from their posts and enjoy second retirement lives she added. She said Tariq Malik ex-chairman NADRA had developed E-voting software for the expatriates Pakistanis. But unfortunately PML-N booted him out for not becoming a partner in their crimes she added.
PTI Information Secretary Andleeb Abbas said to accept something good and innovative from ECP is next to impossible. There are an estimated 7 million Pakistanis who are working abroad and they are eager to vote but unfortunately ECP is denying them their right to exercise their votes she added. She said despite a commitment from ECP in front of Supreme Court back in 2010 to give the right of vote to Pakistanis living in foreign countries, no concrete steps have been taken to ensure this so far. ECP, PPP and PML-N are absolutely not in favor of granting voting rights to the overseas Pakistanis. These status quo parties knows very well that PTI is the most popular party among the expatriates Pakistanis she added. She said it seems ECP is assigned with the task of not to facilitate voters and to create hurdles for them so that fewer people are able to vote in the end and status quo parties have an edge. Only remittances are used from overseas Pakistanis to run the country and yet no one is ready to give them the right to vote she added. She said ECP instead of looking towards the positives of E-voting always presented reports highlighting the flaws of E-voting. She urged chief election commissioner to remove all the hurdles and ensure voting rights for expatriates Pakistanis in the coming general elections.