Moulana Abdul Awal, the mayor candidate of Bangladesh Islami Andolon in Khulna City Corporation (KCC) polls, has given a written complaint against voting in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
This candidate of hand fan symbol complained that the machines which are being used in casting votes are very old.
“When a voter cast his vote for a hand fan symbol, the vote was counted for the boat symbol,” he alleged.
Abdul Awal's assistant Md Nasir said: "We went to the Satellite Secondary School centre at 3 no ward in Khulna city centre after receiving the complaint and spoke to the presiding officer. Presiding Officer Anwarul Kabir admitted the matter. We have submitted a written complaint in this regard.”
Abdul Awal, the mayor candidate, said: "We are worried about a fair election if the EVMs work like this."
Anwarul Kabir, the presiding officer of centre no 92, confirmed that the incident indeed took place in his centre.
The voter of the hand fan symbol pressed several buttons simultaneously and then pressed the main button. Besides, he did not understand that there were buttons on the boat and the hand fan. It may have changed his vote, the officer explained.
Then when he came out and complained, the EVMs experts here checked it. But as per his complaint, nothing was found in the EVMs. There are many other voters here; no one has ever mentioned such a problem, the presiding officer added further.
Anwarul Kabir said: "There is no truth in the complaint of that candidate so far. They complained. It will be looked into. The number of voters in this centre was 2,509.
Meanwhile, Jatiya Party's Shafiqul Islam Modhu (plough) also complained about the slow speed of EVMs.
He said that EVMs are a new technology. People are having difficulty understanding. Hence polling may be delayed.
Voting in Khulna and Barisal city elections ended at 4pm in an overall peaceful manner on Monday with reports of isolated incidents of violence in some places.
There were no reports of violence in Khulna.
In Khulna, a total of 2,320 CCTV cameras were installed both inside and outside 1,732 polling booths.
In the KCC polls, five candidates are vying for the mayoral post. They are AL-backed Talukder Abdul Khaleque (boat), Jatiya Party's Shafiqul Islam Modhu (plough), Bangladesh Islami Andolon's Moulana Abdul Awal (hand Fan), Zaker Party's SM Sabbir Hossain (rose) and independent candidate Shafiqur Rahman Mushfiq (table clock).
