Voters in several polling stations in the Narayanganj City Corporation election faced trouble while casting their ballots on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) on Sunday.
Slow voting due to confusion over how to use EVMs and technical glitches caused long queues at many voting centres in the industrial city. However, the voters found it easy and hassle free to use the EVMs when polling officials explained the process.
Election Commission Secretary Humayun Kabir Khandaker said the commission had organized a mock vote with the machines days before the polls, but most women did not attend.
“As most women did not attend the mock vote, some of them had trouble with the EVMs. Presiding officers explained the process to them and everyone who came to cast their votes were able to do so,” he said at the Election Commission office in Agargaon, Dhaka.
In Narayanganj, a number of voters at the Deobhog Shishubagh Primary School centre complained of not being able to vote as the fingerprint scanners failed to identify them.
“I have been waiting since 9am and it's 11am now but could not cast my vote. The officials say my fingerprints are not matching,” said Aftab Mia.
“It was better before; just stamp the ballot and leave. It has been two hours,” he said.
Several other voters echoed that they faced fingerprint problems.
After waiting for nearly two hours, Asia Begum was yet to exercise her franchise.
“My fingerprints are not matching. It did not work even after washing my hands with soap. I was told to go to the presiding officer, who asked me to come later,” she told Dhaka Tribune.
It was taking more than 10 minutes to cast each vote at the centre.
“I have been here for quite a while now and it’s taking over 10 minutes to vote. Many people were facing trouble with fingerprint scanning,” said Nur Hossain, adding that the slow voting process would likely mean that all voters will not be able to cast their ballots by 4pm.
Polling officer Nurun Nahar said that the voting process was slower than usual. “The main problem is fingerprint mismatches.”
Voters whose fingerprints were not matching were told return with their national ID cards, said Narayan Chandra Mandal, a polling officer at the centre.
Voters at the Morgan School and College polling station also complained of facing difficulties with EVMs.
Abdul Alim was seen leaving the centre without casting his vote.
“I couldn’t vote after waiting for 30 minutes as the fingerprint scanner failed to identify me,” the agitated 40-year-old said. “I waited so long.”
The centre’s Presiding Officer Ramzan Ali said they were facing some technical issues.
“There have been some cases of fingerprint mismatch, especially with the elderly. In some cases, the issue was with the voters’ fingerprints. But the problems were solved.”
At the Ekrampur Primary School Mosammat, Fatema and thirty others were waiting in the queue for more than an hour.
A policeman posted at the center was seen putting petroleum jelly on the hands of the voters in the queue.
“It helps to solve the issue of the fingerprint mismatch,” Constable Mohammad Hanif told Dhaka Tribune.
A similar situation was seen at the Bibi Marium School voting centre in the city. Long queues were found at the centre as voters were facing difficulties in using EVMs.
“Out of the eight voters who arrived in the first 30 minutes after the polls opened, only three could cast their ballots. The others left without exercising their franchise,” said Aleya Begum, a polling agent of a councilor candidate at the centre.
According to the polling agent, many voters were confused about the process to cast their ballots on the EVMs.
Presiding Officer Mahbubur Rahman said there were some difficulties at the beginning.
“Some female voters were confused about the process, but they were able to vote after it was explained to them. I am aware of some cases of fingerprint scanners failing to identify the voters. They were told to wait as their hands were sweating, but they left without casting their votes,” he said.
Polls officials said in some cases it took 20 minutes to cast a single vote.
Defective EVM leaves female voters waiting for hours
A defective EVM at the Govt Kadam Rasul College polling station left female voters waiting for hours, resulting in long queues. Some of them even returned home without casting their votes.
Madhobi Rani Roy came to the polling station at 11am but had to go back after waiting for 2 hours.
M Zahid Hasan, a data entry operator, said: "The EVM stopped working just two minutes ago. We are trying to fix it. We have four more machines. If we cannot not fix the machine, we will use those."
However, Dhaka Tribune found that officials had been trying to fix the EVM for over 30 minutes.
Elderly women at the polling station had to wait for hours due to technical glitches, such as issues with fingerprint recognition.
Bibi Khodeza, 70, told Dhaka Tribune: “This is probably the last vote of my life. I really want to cast my vote, but I have been waiting for too long.”
Meanwhile, Rafiqul Islam, the centre’s presiding officer, said: "I was not present there when the EVM machine stopped working. I had the audit card with me at the time, as a result of which the machine was not working. But it has now been fixed.”
"Some voters' fingerprints patterns have changed due to chopping and grinding food, thus their fingerprints did not match,” he said.
Of the 3,387 female voters at the centre, 667 had cast their votes till 1:30pm.
Narayanganj residents were voting to pick its mayor and 36 councillors, in an election that can be expected to be a departure from the recent violence-ridden polls to the union parishads.
Incumbent mayor Selina Hayat Ivy triumphed over Taimur Alam Khandakar, an independent candidate.
The election was being closely watched across the country as it was one of the final tests for the outgoing Election Commission.
This was the first election in the country that was held exclusively on EVMs.