Bangladesh uses EVMs for first time in general election
Dhaka, Dec 30 : Bangladesh Sunday deployed electronic voting machines for the first time in a general election, though only on a limited scale, a move which received mixed responses from the voters amid reports of glitches in some booths.
Out of the 299 parliamentary constituencies that went to polls, six saw the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs), a regular feature in neighbouring India since decades ago.
Voting for the 11th national election began with the machines being used in the six seats selected through lottery. These are: Dhaka-6, Dhaka-13, Chattogram-9, Rangpur-3, Khulna-2 and Satkhira-2. The six seats comprises over 2.1 million voters. The results from these six seats could be announced within hours after the voting ends, Bangladeshi media reported.
Electronic voting machines created problems across different voting centres in Dhaka-13 and Dhaka-6, slowing down voting process and leading to long queues, the Daily Star newspaper reported.
Voters in some areas have reported facing trouble when the machines could not recognise their fingerprints, BDnews24.com reported.
Dhaka-13 voter Jagat Dashi Mondol, a septuagenarian, was smiling as she came out of the polling centre at Mohammadpur's Borabo Government Primary School.
When asked about how she felt using an EVM, said, "easy, very easy."
The polling centre's Presiding Officer Jayanta Chandra Deb said he replaced three EVMs when they stopped working.
Nazrul Islam, a retired engineer, said his fingerprint was not matching when he went to vote at the polling centre in Lalmatia Mohila College.
"But I got to vote using my voter ID. It didn't take much time."
Gazi Hossain, a former librarian of Lalmatia Mohila College, was unhappy with the EVM because of the time wasted in trying to match his fingerprint in the machine. "It wasn't matching, so it took more time, that's a problem," he said.
Bimal Chandra, a retired teacher, voted using EVM at the Mohammadpur Chand Community Centre.
"I just pressed two buttons on the EVM. One on the poll symbol, then another on a green button. It takes roughly ten seconds. It takes more time to be marked on the thumb with ink.
"It takes just 20 minutes to count the votes from EVM centres. This is good," said Chandra.
On December 27, the Election Commission organised mock voting at selected polling centres to educate voters on how to use EVMs.
The EVM technology is being used for the first time at the national election level, eight years after being introduced in local government elections in the country.
The machines were first used in the Chittagong City Corporation election of June 2010. However, the Election Commission stopped using the technology in 2015 due to some errors. The machines were later reintroduced in the Rangpur City Corporation election in 2016.
During this year's city corporation polls, EVMs were used in three polling centres in Khulna City Corporation with 10,000 voters; two centres in Sylhet City Corporation with 5,413 voters; 11 centres in Barishal City Corporation with 25,000 voters; and two centres in Rajshahi City Corporation with 3,383 voters, the Daily Star reported.
During the Election Commission's electoral dialogues, most of the 40 registered parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party of former premier Khalida Zia and its allies, opposed the idea of using EVMs in the election.
However, five political parties, including the ruling Awami League of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, its allies Workers Party of Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal faction led by Hasanul Haq Inu and Bangladesher Samyabadi Dal (M-L) and Zaker Party supported the use of EVMs.
The BNP has all along been opposing the EC move, alleging that this might facilitate "the government's plan for election engineering".
The Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF) imported parts of the EVMs and assembled them in Bangladesh ahead of the general election, media reports said.
"The EVM fingerprint scanner will be imported from America while Apple will supply the monitors. Other parts of the EVM machine will be imported from different countries," the Dhaka Tribune quoted Brig Gen Mohammad Saidul Islam, director general of the Election Commission's National Identity Registration Wing, as saying in September.
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Assam polls: Cong announces first list of 42 candidates, Gaurav to contest from Jorhat
Guwahati (PTI): The opposition Congress on Tuesday took the lead in announcing its first list of 42 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Assam, with it comprising both sitting MLAs and former ministers, and also new faces, including sons of three prominent politicians.
The party's chief ministerial candidate and state president Gaurav Gogoi will contest from the prestigious Jorhat assembly constituency, currently held by BJP's Hitendra Nath Goswami.
The Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha will make his first electoral foray for the assembly.
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Gogoi is currently the party MP from the Jorhat parliamentary constituency and previously represented Kaliabor twice before it was reconstituted during the delimitation exercise in the state.
The leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Debabrata Saikia, will contest from the family stronghold of Nazira, which he has represented since 2016. His father, former chief minister Hiteswar Saikia, and his mother, Hemoprava Saikia, previously represented the constituency.
Three sitting MLAs -- Nandita Das from Hajo-Sualkuchi, Diganta Barman from Barkhetry and Nurul Huda from Rupohihat -- have also been included in the list.
Das, a two-time MLA, had earlier contested from Boko but following the delimitation exercise in the state, she has been shifted to Hajo-Sualkuchi while Barman and Huda will contest from the same seats they represented in the current assembly.
Former minister and state Congress president Ripun Bora will contest from Barchalla while another former minister, Ajit Singh, will contest from Udharbond constituency in Barak Valley.
Former minister and Deputy Speaker Pranati Phukan, a four-time MLA till 2016, will contest from Naharkatia in Upper Assam.
Tanzil Hussain, son of Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain, will contest from Samaguri where he had lost to BJP's Diplu Ranjan Sarmah in the 2024 by-elections which was necessitated following the election of the senior Hussain to Lok Sabha.
Prateek Bordoloi, son of Nagaon MP Prodyut Bordoloi, will contest the Margherita seat which was represented by his father thrice since 2001.
Former five-time MP and prominent tea tribe leader Paban Singh Ghatowar's son Pranjal Ghatowar will contest from the Chabua-Lahowal seat.
Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress president Mira Borthakur, who had unsuccessfully contested the last parliamentary polls from Gauhati, has been given the ticket for the prestigious Dispur constituency.
Former BJP MLA Ashok Sarma, who was denied ticket by the ruling party in 2021 and went on to join the Congress in 2024, will contest from his previous Nalbari seat.
Another former BJP MLA and Deputy Speaker Aminul Haque Laskar, who joined the Congress in 2024, will contest from Sonai constituency in Barak Valley.
Former AGP MLA Satyabrat Kalita, who joined the Congress in September 2025, will contest from Kamalpur seat.
Other prominent faces in the list include former Congress MLAs Durga Bhumij from Doomdooma, Binanda Kumar Saikia from Sipahjhar and Bubul Das from Jagiroad (SC) constituency.
The Congress is a leading part of the unified opposition alliance, 'Asom Sonmilito Morcha', formed to challenge the ruling BJP, and has entered into seat-sharing arrangements with the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and the Left, but is yet to finalise it with Raijor Dal.
Presently, the ruling BJP's strength in the 126-member assembly is 64, while its allies AGP has nine MLAs, UPPL has seven and BPF has three members.
In the opposition camp, the Congress has 26 MLAs, AIUDF has 15 members and CPI(M) has one MLA. There is an Independent legislator as well.
