EC app misleads voters to wrong centres

Nurul Islam, a voter in Gazipur-2 constituency, came to Kalmeshwor Government Primary School to cast his vote around 10:45am yesterday, but he found out that it was not his designated centre.

"I have been to three centres but am yet to find mine," he said.

The Election Commission's "Smart Election Management" app and local agents' copy led him to the centre, but his serial number was not there, said Nurul.

Like Nurul, many voters in the constituency were struggling to cast their vote after the Election Commission app reportedly provided them with wrong information regarding their polling centres.

They went to Kalmeshwor Government Primary School (centres 89 and 90) but could not cast their votes.

"At least four out of every 10 voters are facing this issue," said Abul Khair, presiding officer of centre 90 at the school.

Ripon Kumar Roy, another presiding officer at the school, also admitted to the matter.

Voters with serial numbers 1-3,299 were designated to vote at centre 89, while serial numbers 3,300-6,585 were listed at centre 90, said the presiding officers.

But many with serial numbers over 6,585 were coming to these two centres due to information provided by the EC app, which took Tk 21 crore to develop.

Saijdul Islam, with serial number 9,099, said he went to three centres but could not find his serial or name. Another voter, Meheraj Uddin, faced the same problem.

In a span of 10 minutes, this correspondent found at least five voters whose centre was shown as Kalmeshwor Government Primary School in the EC app, but their serial number was not listed at the centre.

Meanwhile, a youth named Nahid came to Kazi Azimuddin College in the constituency after it was shown as his designated centre in the app.

But he could not find his centre there. Another three voters had a similar experience at Rani Bilashmoni Government Boys High School when this correspondent visited there around 1:00pm.