Due to financial crisis, the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) project is not happening for the time being, said EC Secretary Md. Jahangir Alam.
He informed it in an emergency press conference on Monday afternoon. The EC Secretary said that the Planning Commission has already informed the Election Commission about this.
Jahangir Alam said, ‘After detailed examination and review and considering the financial capacity of the government in the current global context, a decision has been taken not to process the EVM project for the time being.’
He said, ‘It is not running now, it will run later.’
As a result, it is not possible to vote in EVMs in maximum 150 seats in the 12th parliamentary elections. In this regard, the EC Secretary said that as much as possible will be done with the 2018 EVMs. In that case, 50-60 seats can be voted in EVM.
Earlier, in September last year, the EC had decided to conduct EVM elections in 150 seats. He submitted the project proposal to the Planning Commission but did not get a response even after 5 months. The EVM project was not even on the agenda of the ECNEC meeting on January 17.
