EVM Expenditure Examined: ACC Summons Six Officials in Procurement Probe

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has initiated an investigation into alleged irregularities in the procurement of electronic voting machines (EVMs). As part of the inquiry, the commission has summoned six officials who were involved with the Election Commission (EC) during the period in question.

According to an official letter signed by ACC Assistant Director and head of the investigation team Md. Rakibul Hayat, the following individuals have been asked to appear at the ACC headquarters on Wednesday, July 2, to provide statements regarding the allegations: Md. Saiful Haque Chowdhury, Deputy Chief of the EC Secretariat; Md. Mahfuzul Haque, Assistant Chief; AHM Abdur Rahim Khan, IT Systems Consultant of the EC's IDEA Project; Farhad Hossain, Deputy Secretary (current duty); Farzana Akhter, System Analyst; and Muhammad Ashraf Hossain, then Senior Maintenance Engineer.

The letter states that the investigation pertains to allegations against former Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda and others for “abuse of power, various irregularities, and violations of government financial regulations.” It further alleges that the EC approved the project without conducting a feasibility study and purchased 150,000 low-quality EVMs at a price nearly 10 times higher than market value, bypassing the tender process—causing an estimated financial loss of approximately BDT 3,172 crore to the government.

The machines were reportedly rushed into procurement before the 11th parliamentary elections in 2018. However, the EVMs were only used on a limited scale during that election, and more than half of the devices became non-functional over time. Due to these failures, the EC recently decided to cancel the entire project.