The Chief Election Commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, on Sunday said that they were planning to introduce the electronic voting machine to ensure free, fair, accountable as well as trouble-free elections.
Huda was speaking at a meeting with a delegation of diploma engineers headed by MA Majid, inventor of the Electronic Vote Casting and Counting Machine, at the Election Commission secretariat.
The delegation demonstrated how the EVCCM works, probably to persuade the EC to choose their machine instead of the Electronic Voting Machine of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
After listening to MA Majid talk about his invention, the chief election commissioner said that
the EC had already planned to introduce the BUET's EVM.
'We have no bias towards or against any kind of electronic polling machine, but the machine will have to be easy to understand and use in order to earn the people's confidence,' Huda said. 'In fact, we plan to introduce the EVM to reduce the hassle caused by the old electoral process.'
Without directly turning down the proposal of using the EVCCM, the CEC asked MA Majid to modify his discovery in line with the demand and with the electoral laws.
Pointing out various flaws in the EVCCM, the CEC said, 'Bangladesh's political culture is confrontational, so we will have to introduce a system which won't give rise
to any controversy or
dispute.'
Election Commissioner Sakhawat Hussain said that democracy is a costly system.
'A total of Tk 300 to 350 crore is needed to hold a general election, and the sum will rise to Tk 1,000 crore in the next general election,' he said.
Majid, who won a national award for his invention, said that the EVCCM is a product of local technology. 'It will help to curb irregularities in vote casting and counting and will reduce the time of voting,' he said.
Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain and other EC officials
were also present at the meeting.
Source : New Age
