Election Commission Secretary Md. Humayun Kabir Khandkar said that the final decision will be taken on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) project next Monday.
He informed it at the end of the seventh ‘Commission meeting’ held on Tuesday (September 13) in the meeting room of the Nirbachon Bhaban (Election Building).
The meeting started at 11:00 am at the election commission building in the capital. A project proposal was drafted in the meeting regarding the project of buying EVMs. The meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal was attended by other commissioners and concerned officials of the Election Commission.
The EC Secretary said, ‘In order to expand the application of information technology, a discussion meeting has been held on increasing the use of electronic voting machines and sustainable management. In this long discussion, the commissioners gave different directions to the verification committee. However, no decision was taken regarding EVMs in today’s meeting. Today’s meeting has been adjourned. We hope the next meeting will be held next Monday. A decision will be taken about EVMs in that meeting.’
He said, ‘A committee was formed a few days ago to verify the market price of EVMs. They haven’t finished their work yet. After verification, they will present it in the next commission meeting. After that, the commission will review it and make a final decision.’
Last August, 22 political parties gave their views on EVMs during the EC dialogue. Out of these, 9 parties opined directly against EVMs. Another 5 parties have expressed doubts and skepticism about EVMs. Only 4 parties including Awami League sought votes in EVMs.
