ISLAMABAD: The government is likely to present a bill on the use of electronic voting machines in the next elections during a joint session of parliament on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Imran Khan tried to convene a similar parliamentary sitting earlier this month by bringing together legislators from his own party and other allied factions.
However, his speech about the necessity of electoral reforms to secure a bright political future for the country did not get enough traction, making his administration postpone the session.
According to Pakistan's state-run APP news agency, however, President Arif Alvi "summoned the joint session of the National Assembly and Senate on November 17."
While the country's information minister Chaudhary Fawad Hussain told journalist the government's coalition partners had expressed faith in Prime Minister Khan's leadership, officials of one of its important allies Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid told Dawn newspaper their party had yet to decide if it was going to support the bills introduced by the government.
The prime minister's ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party vowed in September to get the EVM billed passed from parliament despite reservations from the opposition parties.
However, the country's election regulatory authority also raised 37 objections, saying introducing these machines in haste could undermine free, fair, credible and transparent elections in the country.
