United News of Bangladesh

Although a portion of the ballot papers of DUCSU election was initially printed at Nilkhet they were finally made usable through a five-level security process at the authorised institution, said Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Niaz Ahmad Khan on Sunday. “The place or number of ballot printing does not have any impact on the fairness of the election,” he said at a press conference at Professor Abdul Matin Chowdhury Virtual Classroom in the administrative building of the university. Professor Niaz explained that the process involved printing and cutting the ballots to specific measurements, assigning security codes, pre-scanning them in OMR machines, and obtaining the signatures and seals of the Chief Returning Officer and relevant Returning Officers to make them fit for voting. “This complex security process cannot be completed in any shop at Nilkhet. At Nilkhet only the initial work was done and the final process was completed at the vendor’s office,” he said. He said an experienced institution was given the responsibility of printing the ballots for the election. Because of the record number of voters and candidates, a supporting institution was included under the tender along with the main vendor for quick preparation of ballots, said the VC. The supporting vendor did not inform the university about the printing of 88,000 ballots on 22 reams of paper at Nilkhet, he said. The vendor was show-caused for this incident and they apologised giving explanation, he added.  “If the candidates apply properly mentioning specific issues, they can observe the CCTV footage and the voter-signed list. This process will be completed in the presence of the experts nominated by the authorities,” he said.  Earlier BNP-backed teachers’ organization Sada Dal and Chhatra Dal raised allegations of irregularities in the election regarding ballot paper printing at Nilkhet.  

EC Senior Secretary Md Alamgir announced the schedule saying that electronic voting machines (EVM) will be used in 29 municipalities, while traditional ballot papers in the remaining 32 municipalities in the second phase election. According to the election schedule, the deadline for submission of nomination papers is December 20, while the date for scrutinising them is December 22 and the l

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday urged the Election Commission (EC) to defer the elections to the two Dhaka city corporations again, if necessary, for holding it with ballot papers instead of EVMs.