The electronic voting machine (EVM) has become a game of political football in Bangladesh. The Awami League and many of its allies support the use of EVMs. The BNP and its supporters are fiercely opposed to the use of EVMs.
While the EVM fits well with the Awami League’s policy of a Digital Bangladesh, the BNP cries foul by arguing that the EVM is a tool for digital rigging of elections. Lost in this polarized debate is the evidence of EVM use in Bangladeshi elections. The evidence shows that EVMs per se have not been a cause of flawed elections. If introduced on a national scale, could the EVM be a game changer?
The EVM was introduced in 2010 by the Election Commission led by A T M Shamsul Huda. EVMs were first used during local government elections, including in city corporation elections.
The first major election to see the use of EVMs was the Chittagong City Corporation election in 2010. This election was won by a candidate backed by the opposition BNP.
A T M Shamsul Huda’s tenure as chief election commissioner is widely regarded as one of the most competent periods in the country’s electoral history. The 2008 general election, which was widely credited by international observers as free and fair, was held during his tenure.
Despite the overwhelming consensus in favor of the legitimacy of the 2008 election, Begum Khaleda Zia strenuously opposed its outcome simply because the BNP lost. Begum Zia had an opportunity to break with past political culture and accept the outcome of the election that was deemed legitimate in the eyes of the world.
Begum Zia did not cry foul when the BNP won the Chittagong mayoral election in 2010. In 2012, the Election Commission ended the use of EVMs. The Awami League appeared to be insecure regarding the use of EVMs given the victory of the BNP in the Chittagong mayoral election.
The controversial 2014 general election, which was boycotted by the BNP, did not see the use of EVMs. The 2018 general election, which faced serious allegations of electoral fraud, saw the reintroduction of EVMs on a limited scale. Allegations of fraud centered on physical manipulation of ballots. For example, ballot boxes were allegedly stuffed with votes on the night before the election.
The physical manipulation of ballots is a more potent danger facing the credibility of elections. In the past, rigged elections and referendums in Bangladesh saw ballots physically manipulated. Theoretically, EVMs are an opportunity to end that practice and hold more secure elections.
Pros and cons
Studies in India and Brazil have shown that EVMs can reduce electoral fraud, which indirectly translates into more efficient delivery of public services, accountable governance, and responsive bureaucracies. In Brazil, savings in election expenditure due to EVMs allowed money to be redirected to healthcare and contributed to the improvement of infant health.
Nevertheless, EVMs are not immune to failure. Experts have often stressed that EVM technology is vulnerable, especially to technical deficiencies. In Bush v Gore, the US Supreme Court had to pin down the Florida recount to whether ballot papers were properly punched by voting machines.
Electoral security
The use of EVMs entails several safeguards. EVMs have to be kept in an accessible room that is open to election observers. Most importantly, EVMs have to be transported in high security vehicles and have to be kept in highly secure locations.
The necessary security arrangements for an EVM-based election are compatible with many of the pre-requisites for a free and fair election in Bangladesh. Deploying the armed forces in aid of civil administration can be a strong guarantee of the security of EVMs and the election itself.
The BNP is toying with the idea that a digital blueprint exists to tamper with EVMs, despite their own candidates benefiting from elections which saw the use of EVMs. There is no evidence to suggest that a digital blueprint exists to tamper with EVMs across the board.
EVMs have no significance to the constitutional and administrative questions facing the credibility of the next election, including whether there should be a caretaker government, if parliament should be dissolved before the polls, access for monitors and observers from OECD countries, and deploying the armed forces inside polling booths to ensure maximum security.
Umran Chowdhury works in the legal field.