EVM

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EC wants Tk 8,711 crore to buy 2 lakh EVMs

Election Commissioner Md Alamgir told reporters after the commission meeting at the Election Commission building in the capital on Monday (September 19) afternoon.

He said, "You know that there was a commission meeting on the twelfth parliament election today. The commission has decided to conduct voting through EVM in maximum 150 seats. As you all know, currently the commission has the capacity of EVM polling in 70 constituencies. As a result, we will need more EVM machines and equipment if we vote on EVM in 150 seats."

He said, "The secretariat was asked to prepare a project for this purpose. They prepared and presented it in the last meeting. We had some questions there. As they could not answer the questions correctly, we asked them to correct it. The information was duly presented in today's meeting. The Election Commission has informed that all the information is correct."

EC Alamgir said, "Now we will send it to the Planning Commission for approval. Before this, another task is to have a meeting with the Ministry for manpower."

Election Commission Additional Secretary Asim Kumar Debnath told reporters that a project of Tk 8,711.44 crore has been taken to use EVMs in 150 constituencies. About two lakh EVMs will be purchased under this project. Besides, expenditure has been kept here for the preparation and training of EVM security manpower.

EVMs have been controversial since the beginning. While one party applauded the voting of this method, many other political parties including BNP have been opposing it since the beginning. The ruling Awami League and the Election Commission believe that fair and impartial elections are possible through EVMs. In this regard, the EC is also highlighting the EVM voting system as a model in different countries of the world. In the meantime, the commission has announced the EVM voting in at least 150 constituencies across the country in the upcoming national elections.