‘Awami League wants EVM in all 300 seats in next election’
Awami League wants Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) to be used in all 300 electoral constituencies in the next general election.
AL’s general secretary Obaidul Quader said this after a meeting to exchange views was held with the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday.
The EC held the dialogue on the use of EVMs in the next election at its headquarters in the city’s Agargaon.
A six-member delegation of the ruling party took part in the meeting.
“We want EVMs in all 300 constituencies. We want it from our heart and from our spirit.”
Asked if EC has the capacity needed to hold elections through EVMs, Quader said, “It is their jurisdiction.”
Leading the ruling party at the meeting, Quader said, “We are in favour of the EVM system. EC now has 150,000 EVM machines which can be used in 43,000 polling centres. That means 31 per cent of the total centre can be covered with this amount of machines. We call upon the authorities to increase the number of EVMs substantially.”
Quader said Awami League thinks that transparency and accountability have been increased due to the use of EVM machines.
“Fraudulence and vote-rigging have stopped because of the EVM,” Quader added.
He also urged the EC to take necessary steps including raising awareness to make EVM popular and operational to all.
Quader said the government would extend all cooperation to the EC so that they can play their role independently.
A total of 14 parties were invited to today’s last phase view-exchange meeting. Of them, 10 parties took part in the meeting. The parties are Awami League, Bangladesh Tariqat Federation, Bangladesh Samyabadi Dal (ML), Ganatantri Party, Workers Party of Bangladesh, Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Bangladesh National Awami Party, Bangladesh Sanskritik Muktijote and Ganaforum.
The four parties that boycotted today’s meeting are the Communist Party of Bangladesh, Liberal Democratic Party, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal and Biplobi Workers Party of Bangladesh.