Former election commissioner (EC) M Sakhawat Hussain recommended widening the surveillance of CCTV cameras instead of using Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in the national parliamentary elections.
He made this recommendation on Wednesday in a view-exchange meeting at Nirbachan Bhaban in Dhaka. Following the meeting, M Sakhawat Hussain briefed the media.
The former election commissioner said there is huge debate over using EVM, whether it is good or bad. It is rather better to use CCTV cameras as much as possible than purchasing EVM for 150 constituencies in the elections.
Advocating for ballot voting, he said, “It is easy to trace if the votes are rigged through ballot papers. You (EC) have the voter list with photograph and signature. That can be crosschecked.”
He argued saying that it is not possible to anticipate what is happing inside polling booths if the votes are casted in EVM.
However, if the votes are casted on ballot papers, rigging would be tough. Five to six people would require rigging votes that would disclose it.
In this way (ballot voting), the EC will be able to observe the situation more closely than EVM in the polling booths, the former EC added.
"I said [in the meeting], what you (EC) did is right. However, don't slip at the next steps. The nation will get the wrong message if you slip," he said while talking about the suspension of by-elections to Gaibandah-5.
M Sakhawat Hussain further said the EC will have to bring the culprits to book who were involved in voting irregularities in Gaibandah-5. If the EC fails to do so, a question over the intention of EC will be emerged in the people's mind.