Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Thursday expressed concern over the passage of a bill in the National Assembly to abolish the former government election reforms giving expats the right to vote through I-Voting and the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the country.

The National Assembly on Thursday approved a bill to bar overseas Pakistanis from voting and stop the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the country.

Qureshi strongly criticised the move and termed it a “regressive and condemnable act” of the government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sherif of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

PTI vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi tweeted: “PTI gave over nine million Overseas Pakistanis the right to vote. Today, this band of thieves and thugs removed this, disenfranchising a staggering number of Pakistanis and barring the use of electronic voting machines.”