EC may move away from using EVMs in 150 seats

The Election Commission (EC) might have to back down from the decision to use EVMs in 150 seats in the 12th National Election as the project was not placed in the ECNEC meeting held on Tuesday.

Previously, the Election Commissioners repeatedly said votes will be cast using EVMs if the project is passed by mid-January.

The last ECNEC meeting till mid-January took place on Tuesday, and the project was not placed. So in the next elections, which will be held by the end of December this year or the beginning of January next year, the EC will not be able to use EVMs in 150 seats as per the declaration in their roadmap.

Last year, the Election Commission had proposed a project of around Tk9,000 crore to the government for procuring and using EVMs in 150 seats. That proposal has not yet been cleared.

On 8 January, Election Commissioner Begum Rasheda Sultana said if the scheme for EVMs is not passed by mid-January, voting in the next general election will be held using ballot papers.

"Unless the scheme is passed by mid-January, EVMs cannot be used in 150 (parliamentary) seats. In that case, the EC will have to prepare for voting on ballot papers," she told the media after a meeting with technical experts at her Election Commission office in Agargaon.

"We said that we will use EVMs in a maximum of 150 seats subject to receipt of project funds," she said.

"It's better if it arrives on time. If not, we will do with what we have. We have the capacity to use EVMs in 70 to 80 seats, (but) I don't know how many we have now," she added.

Election Commissioner Md Alamgir had previously echoed the same to the media.

Meanwhile, EC Begum Rasheda Sultana and EC Md Alamgir could not be reached on phone for comment till filing this report on Tuesday.