The decision to use electronic voting machines or EVMs in a maximum of 150 constituencies in the next parliamentary elections was made to protect voting rights without prioritising the “demands” of any particular political parties, the chief election commissioner says.
The Election Commission (EC) took the decision following discussions over many days aside from dialogues with the political parties, Kazi Habibul Awal said on Wednesday, reports bdnews24.com.
He stressed that the decision was not “rushed” and was solely made by the commission.
“The political parties will not handle the voting, the EC will. Those of us in the commission have complete faith [in the system] and decided unanimously to use EVMs in 150 seats for now,” he clarified.
On whether the method could potentially trigger a fresh crisis, Awal said: “Let’s wait and see what happens.”
The 12th parliamentary elections for 300 constituencies will be held between November 2023 and January 2024.
In the 2018 parliamentary polls, votes were cast through EVMs in six seats.
“We took the decision not based on what others want, but took the objections into account. Several parties spoke in favour of EVMs, not just one. Some of them agreed based on conditions. We’ve also gathered expert opinions.”
The EC now has 150,000 EVMs, through which it can hold elections in 70-80 constituencies. It will need to purchase new equipment to conduct polls in additional seats.
Awal said employing EVMs in 150 seats will be subject to the procurement of the equipment.
The BNP and 11 other parties did not join the EC’s dialogues on EVMs while nine parties were missing from open discussions about the elections.
“We primarily took account of those who will arrive to vote, not what the political parties are saying. But we did take their views into consideration. We discussed at length about properly accommodating the millions of voters who will arrive in centres to exercise their rights.”
Awal said it took the commission more than five months to arrive at the decision after “testing the reliability” of the process. It required “perspectives from different groups and technical experts”.
He said the truth about the popular ideas about EVMs will be apparent “after the voting”.
“The nature of the results will clarify whether the machines were rigged or not.”
Awal said it was “impossible to predict” whether any crisis will surface surrounding the next elections. The EC will ensure that the ballot-casting is “easier and fair”.
The BNP threatened to stage a boycott of the polls and a street agitation to oust the Sheikh Hasina government if the elections are not held with a caretaker government in power.
Awal declined to make any presumptive comment on the matter.