Hindustan Surkhiyan Desk: Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda today said the Election Commission (EC) will not backtrack from its decision to use electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the 11th parliamentary elections scheduled to be held on December 30.
“There is no legal bar to use EVMs in the elections,” CEC Huda said emerging from a programme at the Nirbachan Bhaban in Dhaka’s Agargaon this morning.
His remarks came a day after Jatiya Oikyafront threatened to sue the EC and the government, if EVMs are used in the elections.
Arguing in favour of the use of EVMs in the polls, CEC Huda said use of EVMs will make the elections easier and more transparent.
“The system will save time and it is less expensive,” he said adding “I invite those who are opposing the system to send their technical team and we believe we will be able to convince them”.
“We will use it on a small scale and the decision on it will be taken in a day or two.”
Saying that EVM is a tool for rigging the election, major opposition alliance Oikyafront has been opposing the use of the machine in the upcoming national elections.
DEBATE OVER EVM USE
The Election Commission is going to introduce EVM in a limited scale in the upcoming parliamentary election amid strong opposition from the newly floated political alliance Jatiya Oikyafront.
The opposition alliance is saying that using EVM will create a scope of vote rigging as the system can be manipulated.
Meanwhile, the ruling quarter is arguing in favour of EVM use saying that it is a modern and flawless system.
President Abdul Hamid on October 30 promulgated the “Representation of the People Order (amendment) Ordinance, 2018”, paving the way for use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the upcoming national election.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council on September 18 cleared a Tk 3,825.34 crore project to procure 1.5 lakh EVMs.
WHEN IS THE ELECTION?
Election Commission has revised polls schedule, deferring the 11th general election by a week to December 30.
The authorities have fixed November 28 as the deadline for filing nomination papers, December 2 for scrutiny and December 9 last date for nomination withdrawal.
The first schedule for the parliamentary election was December 23. Later, the commission rescheduled the election on December 30 following demands from several opposition political parties.
