Election-oriented Left Democratic Alliance has opposed plans for using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for the upcoming election, saying it will be an instrument of rigging.

"Government is planning to manipulate the election through using EVM in one-third of the total polling centers,” Mujahidul Islam Selim, president of Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), a major component of the alliance, said at a press briefing today.

“We demand that the election commission to drop the plan as the EVM system is not transparent and acceptable to many political parties,” he said.

He said: "We want a free and fair election under an election-time neutral caretaker government as country's history says no election under a political government was ever fair or free."

He also said to ensure a neutral election-time government, the constitution should be amended; otherwise, he feared, the country would plunge into a“deep crisis”.

Formed in July, the alliance of eight left-leaning parties, also placed demands of resignation of the incumbent government, dissolution of parliament, forming of a non-party election time government, and reconstruction of the Election Commission before the election schedule.

Alliance Coordinator Saiful Haq announced their future programmes at the press conference at Mukti Bhaban, headquarters of CPB, which includes seminars, view exchange meetings, and rallies during September and October.