EC moves to scrap most unused EVMs

The Election Commission (EC) has decided to destroy most of its unused Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) after years of storage problems and rising costs. Yet, machines linked to court cases or legal issues will be kept until those matters are settled.

The decision was taken at the EC’s 13th commission meeting on October 12, where a committee report on the future of the EVMs was also discussed. The commission has formed a high-level committee to oversee the process of identifying and destroying the machines.

EC officials said machines involved in legal cases would not be destroyed. The rest would be considered for disposal.

The EC has also decided not to use EVMs in the 13th parliamentary election. Earlier, at its 11th meeting on April 6, the commission decided to stop using the machines in upcoming local government elections as well.

The EC bought 150,000 EVMs in 2018 at  Tk 3,825 crore. It now has 148,401 machines, while the remaining 1,599 cannot be traced.