Special Correspondent: Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) purchased for 10 years are over in five years! Out of 150,000 EVMs, 1 lakh and 10,000 have been destroyed, which cost about 2500 crore rupees. The remaining 40,000 are also on the verge of becoming useless. Most of the EVMs kept by the Election Commission (EC) are currently unusable.
Every EVM bought for Tk 2 lakh, 35 thousand, is kept carelessly. There is no provision in the project for where the machines purchased at such a huge price will be kept. As a result, they are placed in the offices of field officers without proper care. The EC is not even interested in repairing broken EVMs. Finally, the EVM asset purchased under the Rs 4,000 crore project is going to be liquidated.
When asked about this, EVM project director Colonel Syed Rakibul Hasan told the media, ‘100,000 EVMs have been destroyed because proper maintenance was not possible. If not maintained properly, even if it has a 10-year shelf life, it will spoil before long. The project period is expiring in June; I don’t know whether the period will be extended in the future or not.
According to EC sources, KM Nurul Huda hastily took the decision to purchase high-quality EVMs before the 11th National Assembly elections of 2018 and before the project money was released. EC initially bought 80 thousand EVMs. At that time, various political parties and civil society opposed EVM, but the commission led by KM Nurul Huda did not back down. About 4 thousand crores of projects were undertaken for this purpose. It was decided to buy 2 lakh, 20 thousand EVMs. The previous commission’s plan was to use EVMs in 150 constituencies in the 12th national elections. As part of that plan, a total of 150,000 EVMs were purchased from Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory in a step-by-step manner. The cost of each machine is Rs 235,000, which is several times higher than the EVMs used in neighboring India. In the face of strong opposition, on December 30, 2018, only six constituencies were voted for by EVM. No provision has been made in the project for where such expensive machines will be kept later. The project period ends in June this year, and EC is writing to the government to take the necessary measures.
EVM machines have to be stored at a certain temperature and humidity. The existing storeroom did not have this arrangement. As a result, the EVMs are gradually destroyed. Among them, Kazi Habibul Awal informed about voting in EVM for 150 seats in the 12th National Parliament Election on January 7. For this reason, the second EVM project of Tk 9000 crore was taken up. But due to the financial crisis in the government, that project was postponed. And instead of EVM, the twelfth parliament vote is done by ballot. By doing so, the Commission lost focus on the existing EVMs.
Initially, the EVMs were kept in the basement of the Agargaon election building. But the problem is with sending the machines to the field level during the election. Because it increases the cost of transportation. After that, it was decided to keep EVMs in the field offices. But no field office has enough room to keep EVMs. Besides, the infrastructure required to house EVMs was also not there. At the end of 2022, the EC officials themselves said in the meeting that the EVM machines in the Upazila election office were being destroyed by termites and cockroaches. The commission conducted an on-site investigation into allegations that EVMs were damaged by termites and cockroaches.
The inquiry report revealed that some of the wires used in several paper packets and accessories used for EVM equipment were damaged. After that, 85 thousand EVMs used in various local government elections are currently kept in polling stations in different parts of the country, apart from field offices. Especially in schools. Field officials said that the schools or educational institutions are repeatedly demanding to remove the machines. But they have no place to keep these machines. In this situation, it was first decided to increase the scope of the field offices. But the public works department said that the design of the regional, district, or upazila election offices cannot be extended upward. Then it was decided to rent the building. But even in that decision, there is no consensus. Because each upazila needs five thousand square feet of space to keep EVMs. But this amount of space does not match in the same building. And even if the security system is not good or rent is not available, And even if the rent is available, it is seen that it is more than the budget.
In this regard, the Election Commissioner said. Alamgir said that there is nothing to be done with the damaged EVMs if they do not get the allocation. Apart from this, EC has no plans to buy new EVMs in the future.
On June 17, 2010, the past Dr. started the practice of voting through machines. The commission is headed by ATM Shamsul Huda. At that time, they made about 12,500 EVMs from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology for 12,000 taka.
