Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari said on Monday that i-voting registration process for the expatriate Pakistanis needed to be simplified.

A mechanism, which enables the overseas Pakistanis to register and cast votes through portable digital devices, should be introduced, he stated.

The SAPM was speaking at a meeting on i-voting chaired by Adviser to Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan. The meeting was also attended by officials of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The minutes of previous meeting on i-voting was also reviewed, said a press release.

During the meeting, a NADRA representative gave a detailed briefing to the participants about the i-voting project for overseas Pakistanis. An electronic demonstration of three steps, registration, verification and vote casting procedure for the expatriates, was also given during the meeting.

The meeting decided to take up the matter in the upcoming sessions of the National Assembly and Senate, and thereafter the ECP would be recommended to initiate the i-voting process for the overseas Pakistanis.

This was the second meeting on i-voting this month that indicates that the government has geared up its efforts to ensure participation of expatriate Pakistanis in the upcoming elections through internet-voting (i-voting).

It was recommended during the previous meeting that overseas Pakistanis could be registered on the basis of their Pakistani passport and the National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP).

The ECP and NADRA were also asked to jointly initiate a programme to ensure confidential voting for the overseas Pakistanis.