Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda today said there is no scope for the Election Commission to back off from the EVM use and this machine will be used on a limited scale in the national election.

“There’s no scope to retreat from it (the use of EVM). We’ll have to go ahead with these. We seek cooperation from all of you,” he said while addressing the inaugural function of a daylong EVM fair in Dhaka.

The Election Commission arranged the fair at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre to showcase the use of Electronic Voting Machines.

Addressing the function, the CEC said if the political parties want they can send experts to find out whether there is any loophole in EVM. “We’ll fix it, if any.”

Pointing at the political parties, he said, “You, come together with technology experts if you have, and examine these. If we've any flaws, please help us correct those.”

The CEC said no voter lodged any complaint about the EVM when the machines were used in the recent city corporation elections. “They (voters) were happy. If the voters are happy we’re also happy,” he said.

Election Commissioner Rafiqul Islam termed the traditional voting-casting system with ballot paper “troublesome and time-consuming”.

“I can assure you that this (EVM) is one of the technically-sound machines,” he said adding that there is no scope to hack or tamper the machine as it is totally an offline machine.

No fake voter can cast their votes with the EVMs and no one can stuff ballot boxes before the stipulated time, he mentioned adding that every voter will have to go through the biometric verification process to cast vote with the machine.

EC Secretary Helaluddin Ahmed presided over the event, while Director General of EC’s National Identity Registration Wing Brig Gen Mohammad Saidur Islam made a presentation over the EVM.

At the fair, the commission made arrangements for the people to cast mock votes with the demo EVMs through 15 stalls.

Earlier, the EC displayed the EVMs in the Development Fair 2018 (Unnayan Mela) held in October last in the capital and elsewhere across the country.

CEC KM Nurul Huda sent a letter to the Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury today requesting not to allow any lawmaker to participate in election campaign in upcoming city polls.

Election Commission secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed told The Daily Star that the CEC sent the letter following media reports that lawmakers are participating in the election campaign which is a violation of electoral code of conduct.

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Polls code violated in Rajshahi

According to electoral code of conduct, lawmakers cannot part in any electoral campaign.

Regarding the arrest of BNP leaders and activists, he said police arrested people on specific allegation and none was harassed.

If anyone has any criminal charges, police will arrest him, that is natural but no one is arrested without any specific allegation.

The city corporation elections to Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barisal will be held on July 30.

The Election Commission begins a dialogue today on upcoming parliamentary elections with the civil society representatives who would stress a level-playing field for all political parties.

The civil society representatives are likely to recommend that the EC bring some changes to the RPO, introduce the provision of "no vote" and include the armed forces as a regular force in the definition of law-enforcement agencies.

The Daily Star has contacted a dozen of 59 invitees who are scheduled to join the talks at the EC Secretariat with CEC KM Nurul Huda in the chair.

According to the EC schedule, two hours were allocated for discussion on seven agendas.

Although they welcomed the move, some expressed dissatisfaction over the timeframe as each guest would get only two minutes to present their views.

Former caretaker adviser M Hafizuddin Ahmed said it would be tough to make the commission understand the points clearly within two minutes.

"I will emphasise that the commission has to create a level playing field before the election; otherwise the election will not be meaningful," he said, adding that the EC should introduce no-vote.

Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB), said, "I would like to stress the need of unqualified courage and capacity of commission leadership to fully comply and act in accordance with each and every provision of the RPO without fear or favour.

"They have to realise that they have nothing to gain except the trust of the people, and it is practically in their own hands provided that they can resist any pressures from any quarters -- direct or indirect. I would also be particularly interested to see that the commission gives top priority to enforcement and monitoring of compliance of provisions specific to campaign finance," he said.

Renowned educationist Syed Manzoorul Islam said, "I would not join the talks for two reasons -- first, I have scheduled class at that time and second, the commission has invited 60 people and even if 40 people turned up, it would not be an organised conversation."

Local government expert Tofail Ahmed said it is not possible for EC alone to hold a free and fair election and that is why all the stakeholders must behave responsibly.

Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, chairman of Janipop, said, "Personally I think two issues -- comprehensive violence tackling mechanism and electoral dispute resolution -- should be discussed."

Former caretaker adviser Rasheda K Chowdhury said she cannot understand if the meeting would be fruitful as the issue is huge but the discussion timeframe is very limited.

Educationist Dr Tareque Shamsur Rahman said the main point is the EC has to take steps to ensure a level playing field for all political parties.

Election Commissioner Kabita Khanam said, "We have decided to continue the meeting even after lunch, if required. So, there is no time barrier."

Earlier, ATM Shamsul Huda-led commission held talks with the civil society representatives and political parties.

Huda's successor Rakib Uddin-led commission also held talks with the civil society representatives, but BNP and its alliance partners refused to join in.

The schedule for the next parliamentary polls will be announced any date after October 30, Election Commission Secretary Helaluddin Ahmed said today.

“Countdown for the next election will start from October 30 as the schedule for the 11th parliamentary election will be announced any date after October 30,” the EC secretary said while talking to reporters at his office at Nirbachon Bhaban in the capital.

He also said 80 percent works of the election preparation have already been completed and the rest work will be done after the announcement of the election schedule.

“We have already completed demarcation of 300 constituencies, prepared voter list having 10.41 crore voters which will be sent to all districts and upazilas within September 25 in CD [compact disc form],” said the EC secretary.

He also said the draft list of around 40,199 polling stations has been published. Names of polling stations will be published through gazette notification before 25 days of the election date, he added.

In reply to a query, the EC secretary informed that around seven lakh polling officials will be required to conduct the election in around 2.6 lakh polling booths.

Asked why EC is maintaining secrecy and not making clear about bringingamendment to the Representation of the People Order, Helaluddin said there is nothing secrecy in bringing change in the RPO.

“We have sent proposals to the Law Ministry for vetting regarding bringing change in the RPO. After the law ministry’s vetting, it will be sent to the cabinet for approval and then a bill will be placed in parliament for passage.

Everyone will be able to know after that [passage of the bill in parliament].”

He also added: “There is no rule that everything will have to be informed in advance.”

Amid strong opposition from one election commissioner, the EC at a meeting on August 30 decided to send a proposal to the government for amending the RPO so it can use electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the upcoming national polls.

Mahbub Talukder, one of the five election commissioners, walked out of the meeting within 20 minutes, giving a note of dissent on the EC's move.

In the August 30 meeting, EC also decided to send seven to eight other proposals to the government for bringing change in the RPO apart from using EVMs.

But EC is yet to disclose about those changes saying “those are not significant.”