EC mulls online voting

The Election Commission (EC) is considering letting poll-time officials vote online, though Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) are not used in general elections in Bangladesh.

Moinul Hoque Chowdhurybdnews24.com
Published : 20 Oct 2014, 05:58 AM
Updated : 20 Oct 2014, 02:31 PM

The law will have to be amended before the system can be introduced.

“More than 500,000 officials and law-enforcers are on duty during elections and don’t get the chance to cast their own votes,” EC Secretariat Deputy Secretary Abdul Wadud told bdnews24.com when asked why the option was being considered despite the opposition to EVMs.

But the idea was yet to be placed in a meeting and the next step would have to wait until the commission’s IT wing is able to provide the needed technical support.
An earlier commission, headed by ATM Shamsul Huda, had first introduced Electronic Voting Machines in the 2010 city corporation polls.
The system was later used in municipal polls, too. The law was changed to allow EVMs in Upazila polls as well but the authorities finally stepped back from using them.
Meanwhile, the process was on to amend the law and use EVMs in union council polls.
But the present commission, headed by CEC Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed, has clearly said that EVMs would not be used in national election because of ‘political opposition’.