Election Commissioners of SAARC nations on Sunday emphasised the need to use Electronic Voting Machines in all South Asian nations in view of its success in India.

Chief Election Commissioner of India S Y Quraishi and Director General (IT) of Pakistan's Election Commission, Muhammad Khizer Aziz, were among those who participated in a three-day workshop here.

The Second Informal Cambridge Workshop of Election Commissioners of South Asia was organised by Malaysian Commonwealth Studies Centre, Cambridge Malaysian Education and Development Trust and Foundation for Advanced Management of Elections.

Briefing reporters on the workshop deliberations, Anil Seal, Director, Malaysian Commonwealth Studies Centre, said the use of EVMs would ensure conduct of free and fair elections as had been successfully proved by India.

The workshop felt that the "paid news" issue was a problem in most of the south Asian countries and the Election Commissions should take firm steps to curb the menace.

On the debate over the right to recall the elected representative, Quraishi said the issue did not come up for discussion.