Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal on Tuesday said that the Election Commission (EC) itself is not yet 100 percent confident over the use of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in the next parliamentary elections.
The CEC said, “We have had five meetings so far over the issue. However, we could not be fully confident over EVM. There will be more meetings to review the use of EVM. We want to gain the confidence of everyone over EVM.”
Kazi Habibul Awal came up with these remarks while speaking at a press conference at his office in the city’s Agaogaon area.
Habibul claimed that he did not announce any ‘peculiar’ reward of 10 million taka in case of detecting any fault in EVM.
“Only five-seven days ago, we informed everyone through letters that we’ve not reached any decision on EVM. We are not bowing our heads to any pressure. We have not decided about the use of EVM yet,” he said.
According to media reports, one of the Election Commissioners, Anisur Rahmnan, at a recent programme in Madaripur said that the CEC announced a reward of 10 million taka if anyone can detect fault in the EVM.
In this regard, Habibul Awal confirmed that it was not his remark. The CEC also mentioned that election commissioners should be careful and responsible about their remarks.
About the next national election the CEC said, “We are firm to hold a credible election to everyone. We are saying from the heart that the healthy trend should be continued through fair and participatory elections.”
Election commissioners Ahsan Habib Khan, Rasheda Sultana, Md Alamgir and Anisur Rahman were also present at the press conference.
