Young Dhaka voters have more interest in e-voting than election

The young voters of the two city corporations in Dhaka are more interested in e-voting than they are in elections, an apathy mostly fed by the elected councillors’ inactions in the past.

“I was a voter during the last parliamentary elections, but my interests have grown this time as this is the first time I will vote on EVM (electronic voting machine),” said Rafsan Sharif Emon, a voter of the Dhaka South City Corporation.

“It’s the era of technology. Everything should be done digitally. I’ve seen many expressing concerns over EVMs. There should be no problem if we get to know what EVMs are,” Tamanna Tasnia Mou offered.

Afifa Akter, however, believes voting has become “nothing but a trouble”.

“I don’t have any interest in voting even though it’s my first time. What’s the outcome if the things I expect from the candidate don’t come to fruition?” she asked.

Tonoy Poddar, a resident of Kakrail, said the city corporations never help to reduce the people’s sufferings during waterlogging, traffic jam or excessive pollution.

”The councillors always say they will ‘look into the matter’,” he said.

“Voting is meaningless. The same councillors will be elected by turn and loot the money allocated for development,” said Selim Rahman of the North. Rakibul Alam of Dakkhinkhan agreed.

But to Jamal Hossain, Farhad Reza and Suraiya Amin, exercising the voting right is very important.

They believe, no matter who wins, the citizens must cast their votes to ensure representative democracy.

Out of the around 5.5 million voters in the capital, a third are aged between 19 and 36, according to the Election Commission.

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