BNP argues against EVMs as EC moves for e-voting in general elections

The BNP has warned the Election Commission against the use of electronic voting machines or EVMs in the upcoming 11th parliamentary election, claiming these will allow ‘digital vote rigging’.

“It is globally recognised that it is possible to rig votes through EVMs,” BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said at a news briefing at the party’s Naya Paltan headquarters in Dhaka on Thursday. 

It came after Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of the ruling Awami League which favours e-voting, questioned the BNP’s motive behind opposing EVMs.

The BNP presented arguments and data in support of its objection to the commission’s latest move to use EVMs in the parliamentary elections.

A voter uses an electronic voting machine at the Government Hatem Ali College polling centre in Barishal, one of the three cities that went to the polls on Monday. Photo: Mostafigur Rahman

The EVMs used by the EC stopped working during voting in recent polls to Barishal, Rajshahi, Rangpur and Khulna city corporations, Mirza Fakhrul claimed.

“One person’s vote was cast with another person’s name. Even ballot papers had to be used at some centres after the EVMs stopped working,” he said.

The BNP leader claims it is possible to change results ‘easily’ if EVMs are used in polls.

“Even the presiding officer can ready the machine for voting by using his biometric data. So it’s possible for a rogue official to manipulate the results,” he said.

In response to Quader’s argument that different countries in the world are using EVMs for transparency, Mirza Fakhrul said 90 percent democracies do not use the machines for voting and those that introduced EVMs have started scrapping the e-voting system following ‘intense debate and doubts’.

The Awami League is now depending on the machines after ‘losing its trust in people’, according to the BNP secretary general.

Prof Matt Bishop of the Department of Computer Science, University of California, briefed the media through a video call about the error-prone EVMs. 

“Bangladesh is not ready for EVMs,” Bishop said.

The EC on Thursday decided to amend rules to introduce e-voting in parliamentary polls.

The commission is yet to decide whether to use EVMs in the next general election by the end of this year.