Information about serious irregularities has come to light in the project to purchase 150,000 EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) at a cost of about Tk 4,000 crore during the Awami League government. These EVM projects, which were purchased despite strong objections from opposition parties, have raised major audit objections, which the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has begun investigating. Local Government Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir revealed this sensational information during the question-and-answer session of the National Parliament on Monday (April 27). This information was announced during the 22nd day of the first session of the 13th National Parliament, chaired by Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed Bir Bikram.
Pabna-5 MP Md. Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas, in his written question, referred to this project of the former government as a waste of people’s tax money and wanted to know whether legal action will be taken against those responsible.
In response, the minister said that a project worth Tk 38.25 billion 34 lakh was implemented to purchase 1 lakh 50 thousand EVMs for the period from July 2018 to June 2024. The EVMs were purchased through the Bangladesh Army through the entrusted procurement method. Although the project was completed in June last year, complications have not yet been resolved with its completion report or PCR. Although the report was sent to the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Department last May, its evaluation report has not been received yet.
The Local Government Minister further mentioned in Parliament that various serious audit objections have been raised by the Audit Department in this project, which have not been resolved so far. The issue of financial transactions and irregularities of the entire project is currently under intensive investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). The government is taking a tough stance on the project mainly because of allegations of major corruption.
Clarifying the current position of the Election Commission, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that it was decided in the eighth meeting of the Election Commission on July 10, 2025, that the controversial EVMs will no longer be used in any national or local level elections. As a result, these machines, purchased at a huge cost, are currently lying in various godowns of the Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF) and the basement of the Election Commission Secretariat in a useless state.
