EVMs make voting slow in Debidwar municipal election in Cumilla

As Debidwar municipal election began this morning, voting has been slow due to the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) malfunctioning.

Residents in Cumilla's Debidwar are voting for the first time since the municipality was established 21 years ago. Municipal elections in Debidwar didn't take place till now due to complications regarding boundary delimitation.

Visiting the Barera Mahila Dakhil Madrasa centre in Debidwar, it was found that voting is ongoing very slowly through EVMs.

Officials in charge of the election at the centre say that the pace of voting is slow as the public there is not used to the EVM system of voting. Moreover, the voting process was slowed down due to EVM malfunctions as well.

Photo: TBS

Saqlain, a voter who returned home after being unable to vote early morning, said, "I could not vote despite standing in the front row of the centre till 10am as the EVM broke down, I am still standing, let's see when I can cast my vote."

Sharmin Akhter, a reserved woman councillor candidate for ward number 7, 8 and 9, said, "There is no speed in voting. Only 10 votes have been cast. The EVM is not working. My voters are suffering. No votes are being cast even though there is a long queue."

The centre's presiding officer Abdur Rahman said that the centre is for male voters. There are 3,559 voters under this centre and there are 10 booths. Twenty to 25 people have cast their vote in every booth."

Long queues of voters were also seen at Sujat Ali Government College Centre. The presiding officer of that centre, Harunur Rashid, said that the total number of voters here is 3,434. More than 400 votes have been cast till 10:30am.

In this election, 69 candidates including eight mayoral candidates are contesting in the general ward and 18 candidates are contesting for the post of reserved women councillor.

According to the returning officer's office, 13 executive magistrates are on duty in 14 centres to ensure peaceful polling.

Besides, four platoons of BGB, one team of RAB, seven mobile teams of police, three striking teams, one standby team along with seven policemen and 15 Ansar members have been deployed in each polling station.

"All preparations have been made to complete the election smoothly. Security measures will be further strengthened at five vulnerable centres," said Cumilla District Senior Election Officer and Returning Officer Mohammad Munjurul Alam Alam.

Debidwar Municipality was established on 15 September 2002. But the first election is going to be held after almost 21 years due to the complications related to a boundary delimitation case.

The total voter number in this municipality is 44,587 people. Among them 22,498 are male and 22,089 are female voters.