Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday told Parliament that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) continues its investigation into alleged anomalies in the Tk 3,825-crore Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) project.
“A project was implemented for the period of July 2018 to June 2024 at an estimated cost of Tk 3825.34 crore for procurement of 1.5 lakh EVMs under the Election Commission Secretariat,” he said.
The minister said this, replying to a scripted question from treasury bench lawmaker Md. Shamsur Rahman Simul Biswas (Pabna-5).
Earlier, the parliamentary session resumed at 3:00pm with Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad, Bir Bikram, in the chair.
The LGRD Minister said The EVM project was completed in June, 2024 and the Project Completion Report (PCR) was sent to the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division on May 13, 2025, but the evaluation report has not been received till date, he said
“Audit objections regarding the EVM project have been raised by the audit directorate, which have not been resolved yet. An investigation is underway under the Anti-Corruption Commission regarding the project,” he said.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam said the Election Commission at a meeting on July 10, 2025 decided that EVMs will not be used in any national and local level elections.
Currently, the EVMs are stored in various godowns, Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF) and the basement of the Election Commission Secretariat, he said.