Chief Adviser Orders Swift Launch of Election App for Voters

Interim government Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has directed the prompt launch of the “Election App” ahead of the upcoming polls. He also instructed the relevant officials to ensure that the app is easily accessible to the country’s more than 100 million voters.

The directive was conveyed by the Chief Adviser’s Deputy Press Secretary, Abul Kalam Azad Majumder, in reference to a meeting held on Sunday, August 10.

According to him, during a meeting on Saturday, August 9, at the state guesthouse Jamuna in Dhaka, presided over by the Chief Adviser, Special Assistant for Telecommunications and ICT Affairs, Faiz Taiyeb Ahmad, presented the plan to introduce the “Election App” for the upcoming polls.

In this high-level meeting, the Special Assistant stated that the app would feature comprehensive information on February election candidates, updates regarding polling centers, and interactive features for lodging complaints. Upon hearing the proposal, the Chief Adviser instructed that the app be launched without delay.

Earlier, on November 12, 2023, the then Election Commission had developed an application named “Smart Election Management BD” at a cost of Tk 21 crore. However, on June 6 — just a day before the election — the app crashed. Consequently, it was of little use on polling day, sometimes running slowly and at times not functioning at all, causing significant inconvenience to the Election Commission. Regarding the issue at the time, Election Commission Secretary Md Jahangir Alam had stated, “Attacks from Germany, Ukraine, and another neighboring country were responsible for the disruption.” The app remains on the Election Commission’s website but is now inactive.