EC finds 40,000 stored EVMs faulty
The election commission has found some 40,000 electronic voting machines (EVMs) stored by them faulty, EVM Project Director Syed Raquibul Hasan said on Wednesday.
The defective EVMs have been sent to the Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory for repair, he said while talking to the reporters after a meeting on EVM at the EC secretariat in Agargaon in the capital.
"Some 40,000 EVMs have been found defective so far after scrutiny. The remaining 1.10 lakh EVMs have been kept ready for voting," said Raquibul Hasan.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
According to the EC, out of the total 1.5 lakh EVMs purchased in 2018, some 1.10 lakh EVMs including 70,000 stored in Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory and 40,000 in another storeroom are now operational for voting.
"Improper storing of the EVMs after each election and carelessness and negligence in maintenance have made the EVMs useless," he said.
Raquibul Hasan said that the project to buy new EVMs was not approved due to the financial crisis. As a result, the election commission has to depend on the stored EVMs.
In 2018, the EC purchased 1.5 lakh EVMs at a cost of Tk3,825 crore.
