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Published : 04 Jul 2025, 12:17 AM
The Election Commission (EC) has removed provisions for setting up polling booths for Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in local government elections.
It is an extension of the policy shift first adopted for the upcoming national polls.
EVMs had been in use in different forms across local government elections -- city corporations, municipalities, district, Upazila, and union councils -- since 2010.
But the commission led by Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin has now decided to discontinue their use in all such elections.
Accordingly, the Local Government Election Centre Setup and Management Policy 2025, gazetted on Jun 26 and published on the EC website on Thursday, no longer includes any clause about setting up dedicated polling rooms for EVM voting.
In another major change mirroring national elections, the commission has scrapped the previous practice of forming committees with deputy commissioners and police superintendents to determine polling centres for local elections as well.
Instead, EC’s own officials will now carry out the process.
While five laws governing local government institutions and the Representation of the People Order (RPO) still contain provisions allowing the use of EVMs, this latest move forestalls any such deployment by eliminating EVM-specific centre infrastructure from the operational guidelines.
The EC continues to await recommendations from the National Consensus Commission on broader electoral law reforms.
Following the commission meeting on Jun 19, Election Commissioner Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah said: “The commission has approved the draft code of conduct. However, several issues are linked with amendments to the RPO and the Consensus Commission’s recommendations.
“So, the draft has been conditionally approved and posted online.”
That draft code of conduct was published on Jun 30, with the commission inviting public opinion before it finalises the rules in alignment with electoral laws.
Bangladesh’s first use of EVMs in a public election was in June 2010, during a ward-level vote in the Chattogram City Corporation election, supported by the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
The practice was extended slightly in 2014 with the EC’s own machines, and in 2018 EVMs were used in six constituencies during the national polls.
The immediate past commission decided not to use EVMs in national elections but kept them operational in all local government votes.
The 2023 edition of the local government polls centre policy still contained instructions for separate EVM polling booths but those clauses have now been dropped.
On Tuesday, CEC Nasir clarified the EC’s current stance: “At this moment, all our preparations are focused on the national election. We are not preparing separately for local government elections.”
He added, “If we are required to hold local government elections, it’s not that we can’t use the voter list or election materials. That is possible. But our full focus is now on the national polls.”
