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Download PDF The Institute of Information and Communication Technology (IICT) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) yesterday held the demonstration of a recently developed electronic voting machine (EVM) at a seminar at the university.
The EVM will make the voting process easy, smooth, accurate and reliable in addition to reducing the cost for the purpose, IICT Director and Supervisor of the project Prof Dr SM Lutful Kabir said at the seminar.
The machine is user-friendly and flexible enough for required changes and add-ups, he said.
“Rechargeable battery-run EVM does not bring any radical change in the traditional voting system. Keeping the main voting structure unchanged, it introduces ‘vote switch’ system instead of using seal,” Prof Kabir said.
The machine comprises four units — ballot, control, display, and battery units.
The ballot unit contains the candidates’ names and their electoral symbols with separate buttons below them.
After getting green signal from the control unit, a voter will press the button below his/her chosen symbol and the machine will display ‘voting completed’ if it is cast properly or ‘vote again’ if there is any mistake.
The display unit will show the number of votes cast while the battery will continue the system up to 72 hours.
The machine will ensure safe and perfect vote recording as protection has been taken to check failed vote, vote rigging or any other anomalies, Prof Kabir said, adding, “The most significant feature of the EVM is its simplicity, accuracy and low cost.”
A combined effort of the government, political parties, people and the media with the direct involvement of Election Commission is needed to introduce the machine in voting system at a convenient time, Prof Kabir said.
A tentative nine-month time will be required to complete the necessary steps including system design, procurement of necessary materials, manufacturing, customisation and training, he said.
He also gave a tentative break up of the costs involved in introducing the machine — fixed cost, individual EVM cost, training cost and post-election research cost.
“For 100 million [10 crore] voters, .2 million [2 lakh] EVMs will be needed, as 65,000 votes can be cast through a machine. A fixed cost of the system development will be Tk 6.5 million [65 lakh] and each machine will cost Tk 5400 only. The approximate total development cost stands at Tk 1.09 billion [109 crore],” Prof Kabir said.
Buet Vice-chancellor Prof AMM Safiullah, team members of the project to develop the machine — KM Masum Habib, lecturer of IICT, Rajib Mikail, lecturer of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, and Mahmudul Hasan Sohag, founder and director of Pi Labs, a research and development company were present on the occasion.
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