Newly appointed chief election commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin on Tuesday said that the Bangladesh Election Commission did not have any plans of using electronic voting machines in the upcoming general elections in the country.
‘EVMs are very problematic. We will not go into this hassle. Our plan is to hold the elections using ballot papers,’ said Nasir while talking to reporters at his office at Agargaon in the capital Dhaka.
‘We have all the necessary preparations for holding the national elections. We are fully ready to conduct the polls according to the timeframe indicated by the chief adviser,’ he said.
The CEC’s comments came a day after chief adviser Muhammad Yunus in his address to the nation on Monday said that the next general elections might be held between the end of 2025 and the first half of 2026 after accomplishing necessary reforms.
About the local government elections, the CEC told the reporters that they were not considering organising local government polls before the parliamentary elections.
The CEC said, ‘If there were any irregularities in boundary demarcations in the past — if boundaries were redrawn with the intention of ensuring a candidate’s victory or defeat — we will certainly look into the issue. The demarcations will not be done based on the boundaries drawn in 2001, but on current considerations and we will do it fairly.’
In reply to a question about whether the elections would be held with the existing voter list or a new list would be prepared, the CEC said, ‘We will have a new voter list in two months. After that, we will collect information by visiting houses.’
Asked whether the EC would announce any election roadmap, he said, ‘The chief adviser has announced a timeframe. We will proceed accordingly.’
‘We are not considering announcing any roadmap publicly, but we will certainly have our own action plan for the work,’ he added.