The Election Commission will write to the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday asking for Tk1,260 crore as repair money for EVMs (electronic voting machines).
Commissioner Anisur Rahman came up with this in response to reporters' questions at his office at Agargaon in the capital on Monday
He also said that if the commission does not receive the money, the vote in the EVMs will be uncertain.
According to the EC, 100,000 of the 150,000 EVMs left by the outgoing Nurul Huda Commission have to be repaired. Besides, the remaining 40,000 machines are almost unusable. Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF) has demanded Tk1,260 crore for the repair of 1,10,000 EVMs.
Election Commissioner Anisur Rahman said: “In the last commission meeting held on March 15, we have asked to give a letter to the Ministry of Finance. A total of Tk1,260 crores will be needed for EVMs repair.”
“We have asked for a letter to confirm whether it (money) will be available. The letter is ready. We can go tomorrow (Tuesday),” he said.
If the finance department allocates the money then the decision on EVMs will be taken, added the commissioner stating that the money has not been confirmed yet.
Otherwise, even the commission does not get the money; the decision on the ballot has to be taken. However, everything will depend on getting money, he added.
In response to a question of when the commission will be able to take this decision, the commissioner said, "We cannot sit for an indefinite period of time.”
“Even if we get the money, BMTF, the EVM maker, has said it will take six months for repairs. So we think now is high time.”
If the commission gets money after six months, there will be no benefit.
“Because if we can make 100,000 machines usable, then the number (seats) of 70, 80, we can go. If not, we will not be able to use EVMs…. We will decide later whether to do or not. Hopefully, the government will arrange the money,” said Anisur Rahman.
The commission gets an indication that there will be an arrangement of money. And if they don't give, that's why it was decided to send a letter at last.
In response to a question, what will the commission do if the government does not give any allocation, he said that the commission will take a decision. It will come to the commission again and action will be taken according to the decision taken by the commission. There is no chance to say that now.
Commissioner Anisur said that 180 applications have been received so far to redefine the boundaries of the constituencies, and two or four more may be in different offices.
Applications will be arranged seat-wise. The secretariat will work on the number of objections found in a seat. Constituency-wise division will show how many applications have been received in any seat. Then the matter will be placed before the commission. The commission will then hold a hearing in this regard, he added.
