Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal said that the commission has not yet taken any decision on whether the voting in the 12th National Assembly elections will be by ballot in EVM or in EVM. “It simply came to our notice then. However, at present the Election Commission does not have the capacity to take EVM votes in 300 seats. The Prime Minister did not mention EVM voting.
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He was responding to a question from reporters after inaugurating the ‘Training of Trainers for Voter List Update’ program at the Electoral Training Institute here on Tuesday morning.
Responding to a question on the position of the political parties regarding the use of EVMs in the forthcoming elections, the CEC said, “The issue is coming up in the newspapers and you have been informed about our statements.” It is our responsibility to conduct the election. You can say that the Prime Minister has commented on this and different people are talking about it. It is not yet clear whether the Prime Minister has said this or the Awami League president has said this. Calling Awami League president, calling BNP chief, calling Jasder Abdur Rob are different things. ‘
CEC Kazi Habibul Awal said, “I want to make it clear that many people can wish, can express goodwill, but we have not yet made a final decision on voting in EVM. We have already held many meetings ourselves, there will be more meetings in the future. Then the decision will be ours. We will conduct the vote as freely as possible. It belongs to us, the method also belongs to us.
“The decision will be up to us,” he told reporters. Opinions we can consider. You can also give an opinion, someone from the street can also give an opinion. Political parties can give opinions. Ultimately we will review all the opinions and decide which voting method and how. That is our business. We are independent in this matter.
In response to another question, the CEC said, “We do not have the capacity to vote in EVMs in all constituencies now. We have not yet made a decision on the 300 seats. The commission has not yet decided whether the ballot will be in EVM or how many seats will be in EVM. It is under review.
Going to update the voter list. People are encouraged to be voters to get NID. But many voters do not meet at the polling station. Asked why, the CEC said, “I will not answer. Our responsibility is to prepare the voter list. Our staff will go to the field to prepare the voter list. I will not comment on the question you have asked. ‘
Earlier, the CEC had instructed the officials participating in the training workshop to conduct accurate voter list updating activities, adding that it was not possible to form a representative government without a clean and accurate voter list.
Election Commission (EC) Secretary. The training workshop, chaired by Humayun Kabir, was attended by four other Election Commissioners, EC Additional Secretary Ashok Kumar Debnath and other senior officials.
