‘EVM not voter-friendly’

BNP yesterday urged the Election Commission to drop the decision of using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the upcoming elections to Dhaka north and south city corporations.

“We think the decision to use EVMs in the elections is part of the conspiracy to permanently snatch people’s voting rights,” said BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

Fakhrul was addressing a press conference at party Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan office in Dhaka.

“From a sense of responsibility... we condemn the decision of using EVMs in the election and urge the constitutional body to cancel its decision immediately, paving the way to ensure people’s voting rights through ballot papers,” he said.

Fakhrul claimed that people prefer to cast vote in ballot papers rather than the EVM.

“Our voters are not used to EVM and did not get training on how to use the machine,” Fakhrul said.

“EVM is not a voter-friendly system,” he claimed.

The BNP leader alleged that as there is no audit trail system in the EVM, voters cannot understand whether they cast vote for preferred candidates or not.

The elections to Dhaka South City Corporation and Dhaka North City Corporation will be held on January 30.

The last date for submitting nomination papers was December 31.

The EC scrutinised the nomination papers on January 2. 

The last date for withdrawal of candidacy is January 9.