Next National Election To Be Held Using Ballot Papers, Not EVMs: EC Secretary

Electronic Voting Machines(EVMs) will not be used in the 12th national election, said Election Commission (EC) Secretary Md. Jahangir Alam on Monday.

Voting will be held using ballot papers in 300 seats, he told reporters after a meeting of election commissioners at the EC Secretariat, reports UNB.

The EC secretary said they took the decision to use ballot paper due to lack of political consensus and necessary resources.

On August 23, the EC decided to use EVMs instead of traditional ballot papers in maximum of 150 constituencies in the next general election – likely to be held early next year.

On September 19 last year, the Election Commission approved a Tk 8,711 crore project to procure electronic voting machines (EVMs) for 150 constituencies, out of 300, for the 12th parliamentary election.

The decision received strong opposition from BNP and its allies, who did not join talks with the CEC that continued throughout the month of July.

However, the ruling Awami League welcomed the decision as it was their demand to use EVMs in all 300 seats in the next election.

On January 23, this year the government decided not to proceed with purchasing 2 lakh electronic voting m1348 Hrs 13achines (EVMs) citing the global economic recession.