Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal on Wednesday said that voting in the next Jatiya Sangsad (JS) election will be held through the ballot papers if all the political parties come to an agreement.
The CEC came up with the remark while talking to journalists at the EC Secretariat in response to a joint statement made by group of 39 notable citizens.
“The Election Commission (EC) is willing to conduct the voting by ballot papers if the political parties come to an agreement,” CEC Kazi Habibul Awal said.
“Moreover, if the government does not allocate budget for EVMs due to financial crisis, then there will be no voting through EVMs,” he added.
It should be mentioned that earlier on August 23, the commission decided to use EVMs in the voting in 150 of 300 seats. The ruling Awami League welcomed the commission's decision. However, some of the opposition parties opposed the EC’s decision of using EVM in 150 seats. Besides, some prominent citizens of the country also criticized the decision of the EC.
After taking the decision, the Chief Election Commissioner met the journalists at the commission secretariat. He said that the decision of using EVMs in 150 seats is not influenced by anyone. The decision of the commission is its own.
Earlier on September 4, the EC said that it has decided to use EVMs in at least 150 constituencies for the upcoming 12th parliamentary elections. To avoid any irregularity or anomaly at polling centres, the EC also plans to install closed circuit cameras at all the polling centres.
Meanwhile, a group of 39 notable citizens have urged the Election Commission to backtrack the decision of using EVMs in 150 parliamentary seats at the upcoming national election.
The group comprises of member of Bangladesh's Constitution formulation committee and former minister Barrister Amir-ul Islam, Dhaka University Emeritus Professor Serajul Islam Choudhury, former caretaker government advisors M Hafizuddin Khan and Akbar Ali Khan and Justice Md Abdul Matin, among others made the call through a press release issued on Tuesday.
Terming the commission's move to use EVMs as illogical, they raised questions about spend of some $450 million in foreign currencies to import the devices in the midst of the ongoing economic crisis worldwide.
They also said that the EVM is technically a weak machine. It does not have the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail system, which means that the 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 further said that it believes as biometric-based EVMs cannot identify many voters and the commission empowers presiding officers to unlock the machine in those cases. Digital fraud can also be perpetrated there.
“They should come and raise the issue of EVM error in the commission,” the CEC said regarding the statement given by prominent citizens about not voting through EVM.
At present, only 13 countries across the globe are currently using the device in their elections.
