The much-talked-about Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) project is likely to be placed before the ECNEC, scheduled to hold its regular weekly meeting today (Tuesday), for approval.
The Planning Commission (PC) officials said on Monday that they may place the Tk 38.29-billion project before the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday.
"Although the project is not on the ECNEC meeting list, it is expected to be placed for getting approval," said a PC official.
The Election Commission (EC) in its proposal said they would use EVMs in the next election for improving digital electoral system in the country.
The EC also discussed about ways to amend the existing electoral law -- the Representation of the People Order (RPO) - in a bid to use EVMs in the elections.
The commission said it would start using the machines in limited scale from the next parliamentary polls, if the political parties agree to do it.
The PC official said they have recommended endorsement of the proposed EVM project without conducting proper feasibility study on it.
The PC convened an emergency PEC meeting on September 11 for expediting the project approval process, he added.
According to the proposal, the EC would procure 150,000 EVMs under the project over a period of five years.
It would complete purchase of the EVMs and all other relevant works by June 2023.
Tk 35.15 billion has been earmarked for procurement of EVMs, Tk 50 million on campaigns for using EVMs, Tk 100 million for transportation, Tk 500 million for software, and Tk 750 million for furniture, said officials concerned.
The ruling party Awami League has welcomed the EC's latest move to use EVMs in the upcoming national election, likely to be held in this December next.
But, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and some other parties have opposed the use of EVMs.
The EC, led by A T M Shamsul Huda, introduced EVMs under a pilot scheme in the country in the local government elections in 2010. They used the EVMs made with the help of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
But the subsequent commission, headed by Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad, did not do much in this regard. Rather, it had a dispute with BUET over the machines.
The present EC, led by K M Nurul Huda, decided to use EVMs, and 'digitised' EVMs were made with the help of Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF).
kabirhumayan10@gmail.com