JaPa candidate couldn’t vote due to EVM glitch

Jatiya Party’s (JaPa) mayor candidate could not vote in Rangpur City Corporation polls due to a glitch in Electronic Voting Machine (EVM).

JaPa candidate Mustafizar Rahman waited for 15 minutes inside the polling booth but failed to cast his vote. Later he came out and vented frustration over EVM while speaking with journalists.

Mustafizur went to the Alamnagar College Road Government Primary School polling centre to vote at around 9:00am.

“I’ve come to the centre to cast my vote at 9:00 in the morning. But the EVM hung. My finger was already inked. I couldn’t vote despite waiting for around 15 minutes. How will people vote if this is the condition of EVMs?” Mustafizar told journalists.

Md Asaduzzaman, presiding officer of the polling centre, said we are trying to fix the problem as soon as possible.

He added that the technical glitch appeared in only one booth.

Voting in Rangpur city corporation began on Tuesday morning using EVMs at 229 centres.

It began at 8:00am and will continue till 4:30pm, said returning officer Abdul Baten.

Nine candidates are vying for the mayoral post while 183 people are contesting for councillor posts in 33 wards. Sixty-eight candidates are contesting the polls for 11 reserved seats.

A total of 4,26,470 voters are expected to vote in the city corporation election.