Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader on Thursday said the Election Commission (EC) has brought itself to question by taking the decision to use EVMs in up to 150 seats, ignoring the opinion of most political parties.

“It seems that the Election Commission is implementing the government's agenda,” he said.

GM Quader, also the deputy opposition leader in parliament, made the remarks while speaking at a meeting of the Jatiya Party Dhaka north city unit’s council preparation committee at the party chairman's Banana office.

Also read: AL hails EC decision to use EVMs in 150 JS seats in next polls

Opposing the EC’s move to use the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the next national election, he said the illiterate and poorly educated people of the country still cannot read the names of the candidates and the common people vote in elections by looking at symbols of the candidates.

“Most of the political parties and common people think that the EVMs are vote rigging machines. So, political parties and common people do not want the EVMs to be used in the election,” the Jatiya Party chief observed.

In such a reality, he said the decision to use the EVMs in the general election is ill-motivated.

Also read: BNP turns down EC’s move to use EVMs up to 150 seats

“Common people think that the Election Commission is working to bring a political party to power,” GM Quader viewed.

Earlier on Tuesday, the EC decided to use the EVMs instead of traditional ballot papers in the maximum 150 constituencies out of 300 ones in the next general election likely to be held late next year.

The decision came from a meeting of the election agency on Tuesday with Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal in the chair at the Nirbachan Bhaban in the city’s Agargaon area.