Citing a shortage of resources and time as the reason, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) has said it cannot provide the required number of electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the local bodies (LBs) elections to be held in Islamabad, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Friday.

Quoting sources, the channel reported that the ministry had conveyed this to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in writing that only an election for the mayor was possible with the number of EVMs it had right now.

It is reminded here that the ECP had written a letter to the ministry on December 9, in which it had asked for the provision of 3, 900 EVMs for the LBs elections in the federal capital.

After receiving the Ministry of Science and Technology’s response, the ECP has now decided to write one more letter to it in order to direct it to arrange 50 EVMs immediately so that these could be used in the local bodies’ polls on a trial basis.

Sources in the ECP told 24News that the election commission had also directed the ministry to swiftly complete all stages required for the procurement of a sufficient number of machines for the elections.

Apart from that, the ECP has also directed it to appoint a focal person on EVMs. Reporter: Usman Khan