The Election Commission (EC)’s practice of spending public money on projects in the name of digitalising elections has long become a routine waste. Before every election, the commission undertakes various technology-based projects, but most fail to become operational in the end, resulting in the loss of vast sums of taxpayer money.
Over the past eight years, the commission has spent nearly Tk 4,000 crore on four such unnecessary projects. The current commission is also following the same path, taking up a Tk 49.43 crore project titled “Development and Implementation of an Overseas Voting System” aimed at ensuring expatriate Bangladeshis’ voting rights.
The KM Nurul Huda Commission had purchased 150,000 electronic voting machines (EVMs) at a cost of Tk 3,825 crore. Despite the massive expenditure, they were used in only six constituencies in the 2018 parliamentary election.
Amid political controversy surrounding EVMs, the Kazi Habibul Awal commission also avoided using them in the 2024 national election. The current commission of AMM Nasir Uddin has also decided not to use EVMs, and scrapped the technology by amending the law.
However, even after the discontinuation of EVMs, the commission continues to spend money on warehouse rent. More than half of the EVMs are currently lying damaged in various rented godowns.
Officials, requesting anonymity, said the Nurul Huda-led Commission hurriedly procured the EVMs from Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF), a state-owned entity run under the Bangladesh Army, without issuing any tender. Each EVM cost around Tk 1.92 lakh, a figure that has faced repeated controversy.
They further said that with the expiry of the EVM project, the machines were handed over to the commission, but it hasn’t yet decided on their future use. Since EVMs have been scrapped, a quick decision is essential, as crores of taka continue to be spent on maintenance.
Commission’s Additional Secretary KM Ali Newaz said the lack of EC-owned storage facilities results in extra costs for storing EVMs. “EC has not yet made a decision regarding the future of the machines.”
Allegations surfaced when the low-quality EVMs were purchased, causing waste of state resources. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is now investigating into the EVM project.
In addition, the smartcard pre-personalisation and personalisation system purchased under the same project has also been scraped. After EVMs were discontinued, the machine was taken back from BMTF, but it is now lying in the basement of the commission building. There has been scarcity of trained personnel to operate them.
Separately, the same commission bought 42,200 tablets for Tk42 crore to send election results quickly. But these tablets could hardly be used. Most are already beyond usable.
EC officials said that once the three-year warranty expired, the batteries of most tablets swelled and can no longer hold charge. Many tablets were defective from the beginning and quickly broke down due to poor quality. These tablets, supplied by the Computer Services Limited, contributed little to election operations.
Furthermore, the last commission of Kazi Habibul Awal developed the Smart Election Management BD application and website at a cost of Tk 21 crore to allow online submission of nomination forms and real-time update of votes cast from polling centres. But in the 12th parliamentary election, only 21 nomination forms were submitted online. During voting, the app became non-functional.
With the current commission scrapping the online nomination system, the project funds have effectively been wasted.
According to Mohammad Rafiqul Haque, system manager of EC’s ICT wing, discussions are ongoing about whether the app and website can be used for other purposes. The app may store lists of polling officials, but no decision has been made on whether vote results will be uploaded through it, he added.
Nasir Uddin Commission, the current Chief Election Commissioner, has undertaken a Tk 49.43 crore project to develop and implement an overseas voting system for expatriate voters. But questions have been raised about unusual allocations of fund for the project.
EC sources said Tk15.6785 crore–31.72% of the total budget–as been allocated for 30 consultants for 23 months. Several other allocations also appear abnormally high. They include Tk2.41 crore in salaries for five backend and two frontend developers for 23 months to build the website; Tk94.3 lakh for three app consultants; Tk16.43 lakh for hospitality; Tk1.35 crore for training; and Tk4.21 crore for data storage. Several officials in the EC’s ICT wing said it is not normal for an app and website to cost this much.
“Spending state funds on unnecessary projects is unacceptable. Funding must not be approved without assessing a project’s justification,” said Badiul Alam Majumdar, head of the Election System Reform Commission, adding that those responsible for failed projects, including EVMs, must be held accountable. “Strict oversight is essential to prevent such decisions in the future.”
Election Commissioner Anowarul Islam told TIMES of Bangladesh that a committee has been formed regarding EVMs, but he is unaware of its decisions. The matter has also been brought to the government’s attention. A final decision on EVMs will be taken after considering all aspects, he added.
Regarding unnecessary projects, he said a government-formed inquiry commission is collecting information on them. “The CCTV cameras, which were supposed to be purchased for the next election, were excluded based on this assessment,” he added.
