Introduction of electronic voting machine in the next general elections, scheduled for 2014, looks uncertain as most political parties having representation in parliament expressed their reservations about the system and the Election Commission apparently backtracked on its decision.
The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, on Monday hinted that the EVM may not be used in the next general elections.
'Perhaps EVM will not be used in the next parliamentary election but there is no problem in trying it in local elections,' the CEC told reporters after a workshop organised by Commonwealth Election Working Group at a city hotel.
SM Lutful Kabir, director of the Institute of Information and Communication Technology under Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, who demonstrated the features of the EVM, told New Age that if the Election Commission wanted to introduce the device in the next general elections, a decision should be taken by August.
'If the decision is not taken by August, it would be tough to produce three lakh machines and make the people familiar with it before the elections,' he said.
The Election Commission on June 7 started a series of dialogues with 38 registered political parties, representatives of civil society and media to take their opinions on introduction of EVM in next general elections and reforms of other electoral laws.
All eight political parties which have representatives in parliament except the ruling Awami League already expressed their reservations about introduction of the system in the next polls. Of the three opposition parties – Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh Jatiya Party – BJP skipped the dialogue and opposed the EVM at a press conference.
Four other political parties – Liberal Democratic Party, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Bangladesh Workers Party and Jatiya Party – attended the dialogue and advised the commission not to introduce EVM for now. The Awami League, which has supported the EVM, is scheduled to sit with the Election Commission on July 18. The Jatiya Party at the dialogue opposed the idea of countrywide use of EVM in the next elections. Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad suggested that the EVM could be used in the local government polls so that the officials conducting elections and the voters as well could get used to them before parliamentary elections.
The LDP told the Election Commission that the party opposed the EVM without the option of thumb impression to recognise voters. The EVM which the EC wants to introduce in the next general elections does not have the option of thumb impression.
At a dialogue with the commission, Workers Party of Bangladesh recommended that the Election Commission should introduce EVM in phases through an effective campaign so as to earn people's confidence in the system.
'We recommended introduction of EVM at some specific polling centres along with the traditional ballot papers in all parliamentary constituencies in next general elections,' Rashed Khan Menon, president of Workers Party said.
The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal favoured introduction of electronic voting machine provided security of data was ensured. 'We welcome EVM, but it should be introduced in phases by ensuring that data will be secure,' JSD president Hasanul Huq Inu said at the dialogue.
Representatives from the media and civil society at the dialogue suggested that the Election Commission should initiate steps to earn confidence of the political parties in EVM before introducing the device in the next polls.
They agreed on introduction of EVM subject to political consensus and called for necessary measures to further develop the technologies to be used in the EVM to prevent vote rigging and ensure transparency.
Against this backdrop, officials at the EC Secretariat said, the commission might not introduce EVM in the next general elections and instead was planning to use the machine in some local government polls.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina made repeated calls for introduction of EVM in the next parliamentary polls.
The BN, Jamaat-e-Islami and BJP, meanwhile, said that they would not allow introduction of EVM and decided not to join the EC-sponsored dialogue.
Asked about the BNP's decision not to join the talks, the CEC on Monday said that the commission would not wait for BNP anymore.
'We have already sent an invitation to its [BNP] leaders to join the dialogue. We have nothing to do if they fail to join the meeting,' he said.
Source : New Age
