The government has taken a plan to complete elections at all levels across the country quickly and run local government through people-elected representatives, Local Government Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told parliament on Monday.
The minister was responding to a question from Brahmanbaria-2 constituency MP Rumeen Farhana during the question-answer session on Monday.
Fakhrul further informed that local government elections are generally not held on a single day but are conducted in phases. Analysing past experience and the current context, completing elections at all levels fully requires a period of 10 months to one year, he said.
A minimum of 45 calendar days is needed as preparation for announcing the election schedule, the minister added.
The minister outlined the seven key issues the Election Commission must coordinate to hold fair elections. This includes preparing a final voter list according to the latest updated information; collecting ballot boxes, ink and other necessary materials; taking into account the timing of various religious festivals; coordination with public examination schedules; avoiding adverse or inclement weather; finalising and repairing voting centres; and selecting and properly training election officials.
Assuring parliament, the minister said the government and the Election Commission are working to complete these processes in an orderly manner with the goal of transferring responsibilities to representatives elected by the people.
ACC probing corruption in Tk 3,825cr EVM project
Responding to a separate question from Pabna-5 constituency MP Md Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas, the Local Government minister, who is also responsible for the Election Commission Secretariat, disclosed that the Anti-Corruption Commission is investigating allegations of severe irregularities and corruption in the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) project from the previous Awami League government.
Parliament was informed that a project costing Tk3,825.34 crore was implemented to purchase 150,000 EVMs between July 2018 and June 2024. The machines were purchased through the armed forces procurement method via the Bangladesh Army.
The minister said the Audit Directorate has raised several major audit objections to this project, which are currently awaiting resolution.
A policy decision has also been taken that EVMs will no longer be used in any national or local level elections in the future. Currently, the machines are stored in various godowns and under the custody of the Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory.
The minister informed that an ACC investigation is ongoing, and subsequent legal action is in process based on the audit objections.
