EC adjourns meeting until Thursday

An Election Commission meeting was on Sunday adjourned until Thursday for amending the Representation of the People Order to introduce electronic voting in parliamentary elections.
The EC meeting discussed introduction of electronic voting in parliamentary elections, election commissioner M Rafiqul Islam told reporters.
He said that further discussions were needed to draft the RPO 1972 amendment.
He said the draft would be sent to the law ministry for vetting.
He said that the EC wanted Parliament to pass the amendment after its approval by the cabinet.
He said that the EC was planning to declare the schedule for the next general election in the 1st week of November.
The election would be held in the last week of December, he said.
In the event of the amendment not getting Parliament’s approval, he said, the election would be held under the un-amended RPO 1972.
Recently, the EC initiated a move to procure 1.5 lakh Electronic Voting Machines at an estimated cost of Tk 3,821 crore, EC officials told New Age.
In electronic voting, voters use the electronic voting machines, better known as EVMs. Sunday’s adjourned meeting was chaired by chief election commissioner KM Nurul Huda.
Election commissioner Kabita Khanam who heads the law reform committee of the EC could not attend meeting as she was out of the capital. 
EC officials said that the ruling Awami League wanted the introduction of electronic voting in the next general election.
During the EC electoral dialogue with the political parties in 2017, the main opposition BNP and 34 other registered political parties opposed introduction of electronic voting.
The dialogue was attended by 40 registered parties and only five including the ruling AL was in favour of the controversial 
voting system.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net