EC officers would be trained on EVM operation
The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology has decided to transfer the electronic voting machines, it developed, to the Election Commission.
To this end, BUET’s Institute of Information and Communication Technology would also train nine IT Department officers of the Election Commission from September 2 to 5, according to a letter, BUET wrote to the EC.
To resolve a longstanding dispute over non payment of outstanding bills by the EC and on what type of battery would be needed to operate the EVMs, officials of BUET and the EC held a meeting couple of weeks back.
Officials said, at the meeting the EC agreed to pay the dues to BUET before requesting it to transfer the technology so that the EC officers could operate the EVMs on their own.
As the EC is keen to get the EVM technology, BUET has decided to train EC officers for gradually transferring the technology, said BUET in the letter it wrote to the EC last week.
The letter named eight BUETs experts who would train the EC officers and the EC named nine of its officers who would receive the training to be held at BUET.
When asked, EC secretary Muhammed Sadique said that eventually EC would have to develop expertise for large scale use of EVMs in future polls.
He said EVMs would not be used in next parliamentary election.
Sadeque said, IT department officers of the EC would receive training on how EVMs are operated and customised.
The officers would also learn how to troubleshoot in using the EVMs so that in future EC would not need to seek BUET’s help for resolving minor problems with the device, he added.
Election commissioner Md Shah Nawaz told New Age that the EC was in favour of using local batteries for operating EVMs to drastically cut down the costs.
Shah Nawaz said BUET agreed to the idea of using local batteries but asked the EC to look into the risks involved with the proposition.
He quoted BUET as stating that if the local companies guaranteed about the longevity of their battery it could be used.
In the face of opposition from BNP, the EC recently announced that the controversial EVMs would be used in the next general election.
The previous EC headed by ATM Shamsul Huda had taken the initiative to introduce the controversial EVMs in polls though many countries discarded the technology for its dubious performance.
-With New Age input
