The Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF) will import parts for electronic voting machines (EVM) and assemble them in Bangladesh ahead of the general election.
“The EVM fingerprint scanner will be imported from America while Apple will supply the monitors. Other parts of the EVM machine will be imported from different countries,” said Brig Gen Mohammad Saidul Islam, director general of the commission’s National Identity Registration Wing.
About three months ago, the Election Commission placed an order for 2,535 EVMs but the BMTF has failed to supply even 1,000 machines. The BMTF does not manufacture EVMs. It will purchase the machines from abroad, although at the beginning it was said that BMTF will make these EVMs.
Brig Gen Saidul said 150,000 EVMs will be imported. “The BMTF will import the machine’s parts from different countries and assemble them, before handing them over to EC,” he said.
The Election Commission’s decision to use EVMs in the general election gave rise to a debate. Civil society and political parties have opposed the idea but the commission has decided to move forward with its decision.
Later last month, the commission decided to amend the Representation of the People Order 1972 to allow the use of EVMs in the upcoming 11th national election.
Last week, the Ecnec cleared a Tk3,825.34 crore project to procure 1,50,000 EVMs.
‘The best EVM’
Asked about these EVMs’ key features, Saidul said: “The machines are not connected to the internet and so, no hacker in the world can hack them. It can only be controlled by the EC’s virtual private network.”
Most of the EVMs in many countries do not have fingerprint systems, he said, adding: “Earlier, we used four fingers, but some prints did not match due to callouses on the fingers. Now, we use 10 fingers.”
Brig Gen Saidul said they are also going to add iris scanners, a feature unavailable in EVMs of other countries. “So we can say that our EVMs are the best,” he added.
The Election Commission said the technical specifications of the EVM proposed by them had been formulated by a technical committee comprised of experts.
The EVM the commission is planning to use is different from those in use in other countries. It has three components: EVM Control Unit, Ballot Unit, and External Display Unit.
