ACC summons six former Election Commission officials over Tk 31.72bn 'lost' in EVMs

From the very beginning of the use of EVMs in Bangladesh, the issue has remained controversial in the political sphere

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The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has summoned six former officers of Election Commission Secretariat in connection with an ongoing investigation into alleged "corruption and irregularities" in the procurement of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

They have been asked to appear before the agency on Wednesday, the anti-graft watchdog's spokesman Akhtarul Islam said on Sunday.

Rakibul Hayat, assistant director and head of the ACC’s inquiry team, sent a letter summoning them to the Election Commission secretary on Jun 26, he said.

An ACC senior officer said those summoned include former deputy chief of the EC Secretariat Saiful Haque Chowdhury, former assistant chief Mahfuzul Haque, former IT System consultant of the IDEA Project AHM Abdur Rahim Khan, former deputy secretary (acting) Farhad Hossain, former system analyst Farzana Akhter, and former senior maintenance engineer Muhammad Ashraf Hossain.

The national graft buster alleges that former chief election commissioner KM Nurul Huda and his associates initiated the EVM procurement project without conducting a feasibility study.

It claims that 150,000 “low-quality” EVMs were purchased at prices ten times higher than the market rate, and without any competitive tender process, causing the state a financial loss of approximately Tk 31.72 billion.

In 2018, the Election Commission under Nurul Huda approved the purchase of the EVMs. Among these, 105,000 are reported to be unfit for use.

Of the total machines, 618 are currently stored at the Election Commission, around 86,000 at the Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF), and nearly 62,000 in 10 regional offices.

The anti-graft body was unable to trace 1,599 EVMs during a drive in January, according to ACC Director General (Prevention) Md Akhtar Hossain.

He noted that the machines were lying in a state of “neglect”.

A random check of several machines from the 618 at the EC headquarters revealed “significant defects”, suggesting that “low-quality machines” had been procured.

Experts present during the ACC inspection also opined that the EVMs did not meet “quality standards”.

The use of EVMs in Bangladesh has been controversial since their introduction over a decade ago. Although the deposed Awami League government consistently supported their use, the opposition BNP opposed it, saying that voting via machines leaves room for widespread rigging.

Under the Awami League government, EVMs were used in several elections.

However, after taking office in 2022, the Kazi Habibul Awal-led Election Commission reviewed the feasibility of using EVMs in polls.

In May of that year, the EC demonstrated the machines to a group of experts, including Professor Muhammed Zafar Iqbal and Professor M Kaykobad of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at BUET, to seek their opinion on voting through EVMs.

Following the inspection, Zafar Iqbal and Kaykobad voiced support for the use of the machines in a meeting with the EC on May 25, 2022.

The Election Commission had planned to use EVMs in at least 150 constituencies during the 12th parliamentary election.

However, the plan was shelved after the government declined to approve the purchase of an additional 200,000 new machines.