Gazipur EC Suspends Postal Ballot Scanning Over Server Glitch

The Gazipur District Election Commission has temporarily suspended the scanning of postal ballots for OCV and ICPV votes after inconsistencies appeared in the data during IT-supported postal ballot envelope scanning. On the first day of receiving postal ballots, Sunday, February 1, the QR code scanning process using barcode machines was halted due to a technical fault in the server. According to reliable sources, once new ballots arrive on Monday, February 2, all postal ballots will be rescanned together and, if found valid, placed into the designated ballot boxes.

Sources said that the Returning Officer in Gazipur had completed all preparations on Sunday, February 1, to begin scanning the postal ballots. However, in line with Election Commission directives, the process was suspended after a server error was detected while scanning the postal ballots.

Speaking to journalists, Gazipur Deputy Commissioner and Returning Officer Mohammad Alam Hossain said that postal ballots received from the postal department are required to be scanned and, if verified as accurate, entered into the registry before being placed in the ballot box. On the first day, a total of 50 sealed postal ballot envelopes for five constituencies in Gazipur arrived by mail.

In the presence of contesting candidates or their representatives, the ballot boxes designated for each constituency were first sealed. The QR code scanning of the postal ballot envelopes using barcode machines then began. However, after scanning 16 envelopes, inconsistent data appeared in every case. It is suspected that the issue arose due to a server malfunction. Following instructions from the Election Commission, the scanning process was suspended, and the postal ballots were subsequently preserved in the government treasury.

DBTech/DPJ/EK/OR