Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal on Wednesday said the Election Commission (EC) has confidently decided to use the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the next general elections.
"We have decided on the EVM use with full confidence," he told reporters at Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital of Dhaka's Agargaon area.
The chief election commissioner said the EVMs were used in many voting centres in the past and "we will use EVMs in 150 seats considering the opinions of the political parties".
He said the talks going on over its use will be understood even after the elections.
"We took the decision with full confidence. The answer to the problem that occurs in ballot papers will be better found in EVMs. Because, violence and rigging are not possible (once EVMs are used)" he added.
Noting that the Commission is trying to examine the worry about EVM use, Awal said the EC asked the political parties to join its dialogues with technical persons and the parties did so, but they do not find any glitch in the EVM use.
"Several parties suggested using EVMs in polls. We have taken everyone's opinion into the account. If possible, we will use EVMs in 150 seats. We don't know whether it will be possible," he said.
Holding elections is the Commission's responsibility, the CEC said the Commission is considering effective measures so that voters can exercise their voting rights and the elections could be free, fair, and neutral.
Replying to a query, Awal said there is an issue of the Commission's capacity in using EVMs in 300 constituencies.
"We are not going to use EVMs in 300 seats...EVMs will be used in 150 seats and conventional ballots will be used in 150 seats, and then it can be compared," he said.
"We will be sure more in future what is going wrong with EVMs...let's see what happens. We have given our decision," he added.
The CEC said none can say about the future while there were crises in both the elections of 2014 and 2018.
"We could not say whether there would have any crisis in the next general elections or not," Awal said.
Source: BSS