Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Thursday that the next local bodies poll for Punjab will be held through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and legislations in that regard will be soon passed in the assembly with the support of allies.

Speaking to the press after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s core committee meeting, Chaudhry said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is going in the right direction and its technical committee will decide how the elections will be conducted under the EVMs.

“The government will help the ECP in whatever help is needed to conduct elections under the EVMs,” he said. “There is a wrong perception in the media that the election will be expensive under the EVMs, it will cost exactly the same amount as any other election, it will make the process more timely and smooth.”

The information minister said that the government has decided to hold the Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa polls on December 19. “In Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa election, there will be a contest between 37,752 candidates on 17 seats.”

Chaudhry informed that the government plans to introduce Insaf Sehat Card in Punjab in coming months and for the program to be launched it has allocated Rs350 billion. “With this plan in action, every citizen in Punjab could avail free health service for Rs1 million. We want the Sindh and Balochistan government to join this initiative, the Balochistan government has showed its willingness for this program however we are awaiting response from Sindh.”