BNP standing committee member Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said on Sunday the just-concluded elections to the Dhaka north and south city corporations proved that the electronic voting system was faulty.
"According to our councillor candidates, voters between 7 per cent and 8 per cent were present at the centres on the polling day. But the government showed 29 per cent and 25 per cent votes cast in the DSCC and DNCC elections respectively through EVM manipulation," he said.
"So, the city corporation elections have proved that EVM system is faulty and unacceptable," he said while addressing an evaluation meeting with the councillor candidates for Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) polls at Ananda Community Centre at Nayapaltan in the city.
Mr Hossain said the fingerprint of the Chief Election Commissioner did not match with the server information on the polling day.
"The CEC cast his vote, using the fingerprint of a presiding officer," he claimed.
He added: "It has been proved again that there is no democracy in the country. BNP-backed mayoral candidates would have won the elections if the voters could freely cast their votes."
The senior leader of the party said BNP participated in the city corporation elections as part of their ongoing movement against the government.
The people of the country and Dhaka city dwellers witnessed mass support for BNP's mayoral candidates for DSCC and DNCC polls.
He also alleged that the government showed 25-29 per cent vote-casting in the polls through electronic voting machine manipulation.
"So, it has been proved in the last Dhaka city corporations polls that EVM is not flawless," he said.
BNP's Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) mayoral candidate Ishraq Hossain said local leaders and activists of BNP had tried to remain at the polling centres on the polling day. "But they were not organised."
"Someone will not take risk … or other else will sleep… that are not expected. Our success will come in such a way," he said.
He said they had discussed weakness identified in the city corporation polls so that the party could correct it in future.
BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Kuku, and adviser to BNP chairperson Abdus Salam, among others, were present.
talhabinhabib@yahoo.com
