Polling on ballots only possible if political parties agree: CEC

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal on Wednesday said arranging the next parliamentary elections using only ballots is possible if political parties come to a consensus.

"The Election Commission is willing to conduct voting by ballots if the political parties agree," he said, speaking to reporters at the EC Secretariat in the capital.

"Besides, if the government does not provide a budget for importing Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) amid this financial crisis, there will be no voting by EVMs."

Regarding criticism by different groups about using EVMs for the polls, the CEC said, "If a political crisis arises involving the use of EVMs, we must address it.

"The kinds of problems we are observing in the field are not associated with EVM's use; they are rather about major issues. We hope and pray the problems will be solved."

It would be great if all political parties agree to participate in elections, Kazi Habibul Awal said, adding that using EVMs is not important there.

"What we mostly need is to ensure free and fair elections"

Earlier on 23 August, the commission decided to use EVMs for up to 150 out 300 parliamentary seats. The ruling Awami League welcomed the move, while opposition parties criticised it, saying the use of EVMs will help Awami League retain power.

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal told journalists the parties were not influenced in making the decision to use EVMs, but  decided to do so on their own.

Later on Sunday last, the EC said it will use electronic voting machines in at least 70 constituencies for the 12th parliamentary elections.  To prevent irregularities, it has also planned to install closed circuit cameras at all the polling centres.

A group of 39 notable citizens on Tuesday urged the Election Commission to backtrack on the decision to use EVMs in the forthcoming national election.

The group, comprising of Bangladesh's constitution formulation committee member and former minister, Barrister Amir-ul Islam, Dhaka University Professor Emeritus Serajul Islam Choudhury, former caretaker government advisors M Hafizuddin Khan and Akbar Ali Khan, and Justice Md Abdul Matin, among others, made the call with a press release.

Terming the commission's move to use EVMs as absurd, they raised questions about the use of some $450 million in foreign currency to import the devices in the midst of an ongoing economic crisis.

They noted that the EVM is technically a weak machine. "It does not have the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail system, which means that results declared by the commission are final and cannot be audited. That is why the chairman of the technical advisory committee formed by the commission, late Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, did not sign the recommendation papers to buy EVMs in 2018."

The civil society said it believes that as biometric-based EVMs cannot identify many voters and the commission empowers presiding officers to unlock the machine, digital fraud can also be perpetrated there.

"They should come and raise the issue of EVM error with the commission," the CEC said, regarding the statement given by prominent citizens about not voting using EVMs.

At present, only 13 countries across the globe are currently using the device in their elections.