The Election Commission has decided to withdraw from field and send back 40,000 transparent ballot boxes provided by the UNDP.
The officials concerned informed the commission that the imported boxes were not transparent, and later the EC asked regional election offices not to distribute the boxes to the field-level offices.
In October, the commission sent 40,000 ballot boxes to 10 regional offices for holding the upcoming parliamentary elections slated for January 5.
However, the UNDP has assured of providing 20,000 new ballot boxes which would reach Dhaka by December 23, the EC sources said. But the authorised officers denied talking about the matter.
In this regard, the United Nations residential coordinator for Bangladesh, Neal Walker, met with Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad on Monday. After the meeting, Walker avoided the media.
Additional Secretary of the EC Sirajul Islam said he would not talk about the issue. He, however, said the matter would be disclosed to the media later.
To look into the matter, the commission formed a committee led by a deputy secretary. The committee report is also negative about the transparency of the ballot boxes.
When asked, Deputy Secretary Matiar Rahman said he did not know about the matter.
Regional Election Officer of Chittagong Abdul Baten said: “We have received a directive from the commission not to distribute the ballot boxes. The ballot boxes of Chittagong are kept at the election office.”
On October 8, the EC sent 13,660 ballot boxes to the Dhaka regional office; 3,500 to Rangpur; 4,000 to Rajshahi; 4,000 to Khulna; 2,000 to Barisal; 4,000 to Mymensingh; 2,000 to Faridpur; 2,000 to Sylhet; 2,500 to Chittagong; and 1,840 to the Comilla regional office.