The glitches forced the chief election commissioner to use his NID number to vote.
The chief of Jatiya Oikya Front Dr Kamal Hossain also went through some problems as his fingerprints did not match on the EVM. Later he cast his vote with the help of the assistant presiding officer.
Asia Begum, a voter in Lalbagh No. 1 Government Primary School centre, complained that the officials are not allowing her to cast a vote.
"Her fingerprints are not matching. We've asked her to come again later as sometimes it happens in the morning due to cold. She'll be able to cast her vote later," Presiding Officer Fazle Haque told bdnews24.com.
CEC KM Nurul Huda went to IES School and College in Uttara to cast his vote in the morning. He had to use his voter ID number as his fingerprints did not match after several attempts. The CEC was later seen taking out his smart card.
"One needs to match their fingerprints before casting a vote on the EVM. The CEC tried thrice to match them but later used his voter ID to vote in EVM," Presiding Officer Abu Taleb told bdnews24.com.
"Many people go through the same problem. The angle has to be perfect to match the fingerprints."
"The fingerprints would have matched if he tried a few more times. But he didn't waste time and used the NID number instead," CEC's personal secretary AKM Mazharul Islam told bdnews24.com.
"The fingerprints didn't match on the first attempt and then the voter information surfaced in monitoring when the voter ID was used. Sir later cast his vote on EVM."
Dr Kamal seemed a little flustered at the time.
When Dr Kamal's fingerprint did not match at all, the assistant presiding officer used his own PIN and fingerprints to allow the senior opposition politician to vote.
An assistant presiding officer can organise one percent of the voters to cast their ballots using his own fingerprints in case the voters' do not match, Assistant Presiding Officer Kowsar-E-Jahan told bdnews24.com.
"I used my PIN and fingerprints when his fingerprints didn't match. The agents identified him and then we organised everything to enable him to vote."
"There are three to four ways to vote. They can show ID card, old ID cards; the photo will pop up when the number matches and the voter can vote," said the CEC over the complaints of inability to vote on EVMs due to unmatched fingerprints.
"We have appealed to the returning officer's office to increase the ceiling as more than one percent voters are failing to match their fingerprints," Dhaka North City Corporation Assistant Returning Officer Tarequzzaman told journalists.
"The EC is taking action to increase the percentage following our appeal."
Nasrin Awal, the mother of BNP mayor candidate Tabith Awal, 'waited for half an hour' to vote in Manarat Dhaka International School and College in Gulshan in the morning.
"The panel connection was loose. We tried for two or three times and then changed the panel. Nasrin Awal voted after that," said Assistant Presiding Officer Farzana Sharmin.
There was some technical difficulty in one of the booths after the voting started at 8am, said Joynal Abedin, the presiding officer at Banani Bidyaniketan centre.
"The control panel was not getting connected with the ballot panel. It disconnected after two votes were cast. But we resolved the issue in five minutes."
EASY, BUT NO FUN LIKE BEFORE
Voters shared mixed reactions after casting their ballots in EVM. Some of them called it easy while some complained of technical glitches.
"I didn't know anything about the EVM. The assistant presiding officers explained to me how to vote. I voted for the candidate of my choice by pressing the green button. There were no complications," said Alimuddin who came to vote in Manarat Dhaka International School and College.
"This time the voting was easier than before as EVM was used. We were worried for nothing," said Hosne Ara who was a voter in Banani Bidyaniketan centre.
"It took a little time to understand the process but it isn’t as much fun as stamping the ballot paper," said Mizanur Rahman, a voter in Hazaribagh.
"This is the first time I voted on an EVM. I came early in the morning to cast my vote. There wasn't any problem," said Didarul Alam, a voter in Rupnagar Model School and College centre.
