Election Commissioner (EC) Mahbub Talukdar says he walked out of an EC meeting because they ‘went beyond the roadmap it had announced’ with its move to allow electronic voting machines (EMV) in parliamentary polls.
“It can’t be that I will sit idly by while they (the other commissioners and their chief) are amending the RPO (Representation of the People Order) to use EVMs in the next election.
“That’s why I walked out,” he told a news briefing at his office in Dhaka on Thursday evening, says a bdnews24.com report.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda and commissioners Md Rafiqul Islam, Kabita Khanam and Shahadat Hossain continued the meeting after the boycott of Talukdar.
Talukdar faced the media after Huda said in the afternoon he and the three other commissioners decided on the basis of majority to amend rules to introduce electronic voting in general elections.
They were still uncertain if EVMs will be used in the 11th parliamentary polls scheduled to be held by the end of this year, he added.
Half an hour into the meeting on Thursday morning, Talukdar came out of the meeting and sent a note of dissent.
“I believe the EVM can be used gradually in the local elections but I do not support the initiative to amend the RPO to use the EVMs in the 11th national election. I am issuing the note of dissent to differ with the decision of the commission," he wrote.
He has cited an 'existing political conflict' and 'lack of skilled manpower' as the reason for his objection.
The EC started using EVMs in local government elections in 2010, but the machines have not been used in parliamentary polls yet.
The election law – the Representation of the People Order or RPO – needs to be changed to use the EVMs in parliamentary polls.
The ruling Awami League favours EVMs, saying these will make the balloting more transparent.
But the BNP has been vocal against the idea of using the machines from the beginning. It suspects the latest EC move is a ploy to rig votes.
The CEC had been saying that they would not use EVMs in general election without the consent of all the political parties, but recently the EC moved to amend the RPO to allow EVMs in parliamentary elections.
“I came out of the meeting because its agendas included RPO amendment. I don’t want the RPO amended. I think it won’t be right to use EVMs in the 11th parliamentary elections because most of the political parties don’t want them,” Mahbub told the press briefing.
He expressed frustration at “their failure to keep the promises they had made in last year’s dialogue with the political parties”.
“We had been saying from the beginning that EVMs would not be used without consent of all the parties. And the issue of EVM has not been mentioned anywhere in our roadmap.”
The election commissioner will decide his next move if the commission goes ahead with the plan to use EVMs in general elections despite his dissent.
He also said he was not trying to belittle the EC. “My objection is to a view, not any person.”
Mahbub had earlier given a note of dissent in a meeting to amend the law to allow MPs in local government election campaign.
When journalists asked for senior Awami League leader Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed’s comments on Talukdar’s dissent over EVM, he also said there can be a difference of opinion.
Tofail, however, pointed out that Talukdar was a BNP pick for the commission.