Govt suspends purchase of 2 lakh EVMs

The government today decided to suspend purchase of 2 lakh electronic voting machines (EVMs) citing the global economic recession.

Election Commission Secretary Jahangir Alam relayed the government decision to the media during a press conference this afternoon.

He said the decision of purchasing EVM was suspended considering the global economic situation. The Planning Commission informed it to the EC.

In October last year, the EC sent a proposal to the planning ministry to purchase two lakh electronic voting machines and their management with Tk 8,711.44 crore.

With the national elections likely to be held in early January 2024, the EVM issue came to the fore especially after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at an AL meeting on May 7 said voting machines would be used in all 300 constituencies.

The EC forwarded the DPP against the backdrop of its decision to hold the next elections using EVMs at a maximum of 150 seats.

The EC currently has around 1.5 lakh EVMs and with that they can hold elections to 70 or 80 seats.

Introduced in 2010, EVMs were used in various local government elections. The then Election Commission led by ATM Shamsul Huda had used them in the city corporation polls but not in any parliamentary election.

In 2012, the EC headed by Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad also kept EVMs out of national polls.

The Nurul Huda-led commission overhauled the EVM system and used it for polling in six constituencies during the 2018 December national election.