Rangpur City Polls: Slow voting thru EVM prompts EC to launch enquiry

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal yesterday said the Election Commission was concerned about the slow voting through electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the recently held Rangpur City Corporation polls.

He also said the commission was looking for the reason behind the delay in voting.

"We will review these allegations and try to overcome the crisis. At the same time, I am telling you that we didn't face problems to this extent in other elections," Habibul said.

He was talking to reporters after holding a views-exchange meeting with a group of journalists and election observers who covered the December 27 RCC polls.

"Slow voting rate was a major complaint, and in some cases fingerprints of voters didn't match. The delay might have occurred due to many reasons. We will think about it," the CEC said.

He said that the commission would talk with technical experts about why the delay occurred, and why fingerprints didn't match.

At several polling stations, voting continued till 8:00pm on December 27 as many voters were in queues during the scheduled closure of polling at 4:30pm.

Jatiya Party's Mostafizar Rahman Mostafa was reelected RCC mayor in the election which saw a turnout of 65.91 percent.