B’desh: BNP against EVM use in next polls:

Report in Dhaka Tribune, May 12, 2017 at 08:27 PM
BNP on Friday opposed Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda’s proposal for electronic voting machine (EVM) use in the next polls, saying it was an ill-motivated plan, reports UNB.
“The Prime Minister’s son and one of her advisers a couple of days ago said the EVM will be used in the next parliamentary elections. The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) echoed the same yesterday (Thursday). The CEC’s comment is a reflection of fulfilling the government’s desire,” said BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
Speaking at a press conference at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office, he further said: “We think the Commission’s move to bring the EVM issue in the limelight now is politically motivated.”
Earlier on Thursday, Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda at a programme said the EVM would be used in the next parliamentary polls if all political parties reached a consensus in this regard.
He also said the Election Commission will sit with political parties and other stakeholders this year and seek their opinions over the use of EVMs in the next general election, to be held late December 2018 or early January 2019, before making a decision.
Mentioning that EVMs would lead to a faulty election system, Rizvi said the ruling party was only interested in using the machines so that they could rig votes as the party had lost popularity.
He claimed that though some countries, including India, had introduced the EVM, they later abandoned it as the system can easily be tampered with.
The BNP leader also voiced grave concerns over the soaring prices of daily essentials.
He alleged that a syndicate belonging to the ruling party was controlling the market and raising the prices of rice, pulses and other essential commodities.
Rizvi said the prices of all the essential commodities had already doubled a week ahead of Ramadan, though the Commerce Minister was saying that they would keep the market under their control during the month of fasting.
He further accused the government of giving a pro-ruling party business syndicate the scope to make profits ahead of Ramadan by losing the market control mechanism.
The BNP leader urged the government to take effective measures to keep the prices of essentials within the reach of common people.
Rizvi also slammed the government for what he said were increasing incidents of rape and alleged that ruling party men and the sons of some influential people were unleashing violence against women with impunity.http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/politics/2017/05/12/bnp-evm-next-polls/