HC Wants Update on House Clearing EVM Ordinance As Law

The High Court has ordered information as to whether Parliament has approved the 2018 Ordinance on the Use of Electronic Voting Machine as law

The bench of justices M Enayetur Rahim and Md Mostafizur Rahman directed the order to the state council after hearing a writ on Tuesday (Jan 21).

On Jan 9, Supreme Court lawyer Yunus Ali Akond filed the writ challenging the legality of EVMs and the Representation of the People Order (amendment) Ordinance, 2018.

Secretaries at the office of the president, the ministry of the cabinet and the rules, and the chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission, were made the petition respondents.

According to the writ, the EVM law was not cleared by the Parliament and is not mandatory by section-26 of the Representation of the People’s Order (RPO).

Moreover, its usage is in conflict with section-97 of the Constitution that says, an Ordinance can be made only if the Parliament stands dissolved or is not in session, it said.

The petition also said that EVMs were used in six centers during national polls in 2018 but the elections were not acceptable.

Akond said that section-65 of the Constitution provisions casting votes through ballots and not machines.