C T Online Desk: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal has said that it is not possible for the Election Commission to take votes using electronic voting machines (EVM) in all 300 parliamentary constituencies during the next general elections.
He was speaking to the media after inaugurating a program at Electoral Training Institute (ETI) in Dhaka on Tuesday.
“We haven’t made any decisions on whether the full national election would be conducted using EVMs. The commission will consider the views of political parties in this regard,” he added.
The chief election commissioner further said that the EC does not feel pressurized by remarks from political parties about whether other parties will take part in the general elections.
“Bringing all political parties to the polls is not our job. The main responsibility of the EC is to conduct a fair and impartial election,” he added.
On Saturday, Sheikh Hasina hinted that the polls would be held using EVMs at the Central Working Committee meeting of her party.
As part of the election preparation, Awami League has already conducted surveys in 100 constituencies where the ruling party’s candidates have higher chances of winning the polls, according to its Office Secretary Barrister Biplab Barua.
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, however, dismissed the proposal of using EVM in any elections.
BNP’s Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said many countries already backed off from this system due to various faults.
He said ballot papers must be used instead of EVM for holding a fair, credible and transparent election.
The senior politician said people got a message in advance that the next polls will be marred with massive rigging and vote robbery from Obaidul Quader’s comment that the election will be held using EVM and the Election Commission will remain neutral.
In 2018’s 11th parliamentary elections, some 5,045 EVMs were used in 845 polling centres in six constituencies.
The constituencies are — Dhaka 6 and 13, Chittagong 9, Rangpur 3, Khulna 2, and Satkhira 2.
