People Happy with EVM: CEC

Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda said that people have expressed satisfaction in using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) while casting their votes in the ongoing Dhaka North and Dhaka South City Corporation election.

He made the statement while casting his vote at Booth 8, IES School and College polling centre (Centre 15), at Dhaka’s Uttara Sector 5 on Saturday.

''I have visited one polling centre near to my house. I have seen that the people are happy with EVMs and can easily use it. However, the voter turnout was low than expected,'' the CEC said.

However, CEC KM Nurul Huda himself faced difficulties while casting his vote for the city election at the centre. While casting his vote, the EVM failed to recognize his fingerprints and election officials had to use Huda’s NID smartcard to verify and complete the voting process.

First, we scanned two of his thumbs, however, they did not match. Then, we used his NID number to verify and complete the vote,” Siddika Bulbul, the assistant presiding officer of the booth, told Dhaka Tribune.

She also said there are three other ways by which voters can cast their votes using EVMs if their fingerprint fails to match. Polling officers can use the voter’s NID smartcard, or NID number, or voter slip number to complete the vote.

Till 11:30 am, 28 voters out of 402 votes were cast at the booth. 

The voting in the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) elections began at 8am and it will continue till 4pm without any break to elect mayors and councilors.

Thirteen aspirants -- six in Dhaka north and seven in the south -- are vying for the posts of the mayor.

The entire election is being held using EVMs instead of traditional ballot papers.

As many as 3,010,273 people will exercise their right of franchise at the DNCC, and 2,453,194 at the DSCC elections.

The last elections to the city corporations were held on April 28, 2015.