Bdnews24.com

The first batch of transparent ballot boxes intended for use in the upcoming national polls have arrived in Dhaka, with the Election Commission scheduled to receive them on Wednesday, an EC official said Tuesday.

"The first shipment containing 35,000 transparent ballot boxes reached Kamalapur Inland Container Terminal on Monday evening, and they will be released on Wednesday," EC Secretariat joint secretary Rafikul Islam told bdnews24.com.
 
"Due to a lack of storage space, the ballot boxes will be sent to the deputy election office. Some 237,500 boxes will arrive by ship by October."
"If necessary, some boxes will be transported by air," the joint secretary added.
 
The upcoming national elections, slated for December, will see the EC use transparent ballot boxes for the first time.
 
The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is providing financial assistance for the ballot boxes, under the UNDP and Bangladesh government.
 
The Economic Relations Division of the Bangladesh government and UNDP agreed on the Tk 45.37 crore "Translucent Ballot Boxes" project following consultation with the political parties.
 
In the scrapped election originally scheduled for Jan 22, 2006, the then EC arranged a total of 178,000 polling booths in 33,318 centres across the country, with the number of ballot boxes estimated at 211,369.
 
In view of this, the commission fixed the probable demand for transparent ballot boxes at 2.4 lakh in the upcoming polls.
 
Election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain told bdnews24.com on Aug 15 that there was no plan to use the transparent ballot boxes in the upazila elections.
 
"However, we do plans to use the transparent boxes on an experimental basis before the national elections," he said.

Comments

Add New

Write comment
Name:
Email:	We don't publish your mail. See privacy policy.
Title:
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.