Bangladesh

BNP-backed Taimur Alam Khandaker has altogether opposed use of Electronic Voting Machines in the Narayanganj City Corporation, Selina Hayat Ivy preferred it in three instead of nine centres while Shamim Osman went the whole hog for it. Ivy said she will make relatively fewer promises as she is against tall talks after Shamim Osman rattled off his successes when he was the Narayanganj-1 MP.

The war of words between Ivy and Shamim began in earnest in the televised debate, with Ivy firing the first salvo at her ‘elder brother’, saying he puts the party behind everything else. The people are behind me, the former Narayanganj municipality said during the primetime Election Commission debate. Shamim, on his part, said it is difficult to work without party support. “BNP did it first. We did it in response.”

The Election Commission (EC) is moving ahead with its plan to introduce the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in the upcoming elections, including the Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) polls, despite the opposition BNP’s objection. ”We’re moving ahead with the EVM project,” Election Commissioner Brig Gen (Retd) M Sakhawat Hossain told journalists at the EC Secretariat office in the city Wednesday, reports UNB.

About BNP’s opposition to the EVM system that it’s a weapon to manipulate vote, he said there is no similarity with the system that was recently shown by them (BNP). ”The EVM system we’re applying and going to apply is not used in Germany and the United States. And it won’t have any connection with the central server,” he added.