RANGPUR, Oct 27, 2018 (BSS) – Election Commissioner Begum Kobita Khanam today said there is no scope for vote-rigging using Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) those can ensure cent percent transparent election.
“The country and society are progressing fast in every sector using digitised technologies. We have to build up mindset for adoption of modern technologies to accelerate national advancement,” she said at an inaugural function as the chief guest.
Rangpur regional office of the Election Commission organised the function for inauguration of the EVM exhibition to demonstrate voting procedure using EVM at Rangpur Zila Parishad Community Centre in the city.
The divisional and district level government officials, leaders of different political parties, public representatives, journalists, civil society members, heads of educational institutions and different organisations were present.
Presided over by Deputy Commissioner Enamul Habib, Rangpur Regional Election Officer GM Shahatab Uddin delivered welcome speech on the occasion narrating goals and objectives of the EVM exhibition.
Deputy Project Director of the Identification System for Enhancing Access to Services (IDEA) Project of the Election Commission Md Nuruzzaman Khan delivered special presentation on EVM related matters at the function.
Kobita Khanam said the Election Commission has arranged the exhibition to demonstrate the voting process using EVM to remove fear, doubt and confusion from the voters’ mind for popularising the advanced technology.
Citing initial response and fear of common people toward acceptance of any new technology in the pasts, she said people are now using mobile phone sets as well as credit card and digitised mobile banking facilities to reap huge benefits.
Use of EVM would save huge valuable time, expenditure and reduce number of manpower required for conducting elections, she said.
“If amendment of the Representation of the People Order (RPO) is passed to make the related law, the Election Commission may use EVM in few parliamentary constituencies only in urban areas in the upcoming general election,” Khanam added.
Divisional Commissioner Mohammad Joynul Bari, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) for Rangpur Range Devdas Bhattacharya, Rangpur Metropolitan Police Commissioner Abdul Alim Mahmud and Police Super Mizanur Rahman addressed as special guests.
Later, Kobita Khanam visited different stalls set up on the exhibition premises, inaugurated the daylong EVM exhibition, observed trial voting by voters using EVM and answered various questions asked by the journalists.